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STORIES    FROM 

ITALIAN   HISTORY 

RETOLD   FOR   CHILDREN 


BY 

G.    E.    TROUTBECK 

AUTHOR    OF 


ILLUSTRATED 


"Open  my  heart,  and  you  will  see 
Graved  inside  of  it,   'Italy.'' 


NEW   YORK 
FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


f   ,  I  .  • «  •  • « •    •  • • «      ••••.. 


Published  igii 


THIS     BOOK    WAS    TO    HAVE 
BEEN    DEDICATED 

TO    MY    UNCLE 

ROBINSON    DUCKWORTH 

SUBDEAN     OF     WESTMINSTER, 

MY   GUIDE   AND  COMPANION 

IN      MANY      A      DELIGHTFUL 

ITALIAN    HOLIDAY. 

I       DEDICATE       IT      TO       HIS 
MEMORY. 


s8 .■  2 


PREFACE 


f- 


It  is,  perhaps,  hardly  necessary  to  begin  by 
saying  that  this  little  book  lays  no  claim  to 
originality.  Its  aim  has  been  to  tell  some  oft- 
told  stories  in  a  form  likely  to  attract  those 
who  are  not  yet  of  an  age  to  study  the  larger 
classical  works  on  the  subjects  chosen. 

The  following  chapters  do  not  form  a  con- 
tinuous whole.  The  stories  are  drawn  mainly 
from  the  earlier  periods  of  Italian  history,  and 
can  only  pretend  to  give  the  simplest  outline 
of  the  matters  and  events  described. 

An  eminent  scholar  of  our  own  day  was 
once  heard  to  say  that  he  did  not  disapprove 
of  a  certain  amount  of  desultory  reading, 
because  desultory  study  often   "  opens  doors." 

That  is  exactly  what  these  short  stories  are 
intended  to  do,  namely,  to  open  doors. 

If  the  young  readers  can  be  induced  to  push 
the  doors  further  open  and  enter  the  enchanted 
realms  of  history,  especially  of  Italian  history, 
the  object  of  this  book  will  be  attained. 


vu 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

I.  Attila  and  Venice i 

II.  A  Great  King  :  Theodoric  the  Ostrogoth  .      36 

III.  St.  Benedict         .  64 

IV.  The  Story  of  the  Iron  Crown      .       .       .81 
V.  The  Popes  and  the  Emperors        .       .       .109 

VI.  The  Little  Poor  Man 136 

VII.  The  Lilies  of  Florence 165 

VIII.  Some  Great  Captains 211 

(i)   SIR  JOHN   HAWKWOOD 213 

(2)  carmagnola 230 

(3)  bartolommeo  colleoni     ....  236 

(4)  giovanni  delle  bande  nere    .        .        .  244 

(5)  il  medeghino 255 

IX.  The  Lilies  of  France 265 


IX 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

¥ 

The  "  Pineta,"  or  Pine-Forest,  at  Ravenna   Frontispiece 

FACING    PAGE 

Attila  turned  back  by  St.  Leo  the  Great,  St. 

Peter's,  Rome 7 

Theodoric  the  Ostrogoth.     Statue  in  Francis- 
can Church  at  Innsbruck 36 

Tomb  of  Theodoric  at  Ravenna       ....      54 

The  "Scala   Santa,"  in   the   Monastery   of   the 
"Sacro  Speco"  at  Subiaco 70 

St.  Scholastica) 

v.  .......       73 

St.  Benedict       \ 

Queen  Theudelinda's  Hen  and  Chickens) 
The  Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy  > 

Coronation  of  the  Emperor  Otto  III.   .        .        .104 

Charlemagne 119 

The  Papal  Palace  at  Avignon 129 

St.  Francis  of  Assisi 140 

St.  Francis  Preaching  to  the  Birds       .        .        .157 

Florence  from  the  Boboli  Gardens       .        .        .166 

Dante  Alighieri 180 

Statue  of  Savonarola         198 

xi 


xu 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Sir  John  Hawkwood  (Giovanni  Acuto) 
Bartolommeo  Colleoni 
Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere 
Tomb  of  Pope  Boniface  VIII.     . 
Monument  of  Gaston  de  Foix 


FACING   PAGE 
213 

242 

254 

272 
295 


STORIES    FROM    ITALIAN 

HISTORY 


ATTILA  AND  VENICE 

"There's  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
Rough  hew  them  how  we  will." 

Shakespeare,  Hamlet. 

Look  at  your  map  of  Europe,  and  try  to 
imagine  for  a  moment  that  you  are  crossing 
over  the  Adriatic  Sea  from  Trieste,  on  the 
Austrian  coast. 

Let  us  think  that  it  is  an  evening  in  spring. 
You  come  nearer  and  nearer  to  Italy,  and  at 
last  your  ship  brings  you  through  a  passage 
between  some  long,  desolate  islands  like  sand- 
banks. What  do  you  see  ?  On  your  right, 
far  away,  are  the  blue  Alps  of  Friuli,  with 
their  crown  of  snow  ;  straight  in  front  are  some 
strange  pointed  hills,  purple  against  the  sunset 
fire.     These  are  near  the  town  of  Padua,  and 


2  SI  CRIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

are  called  the  Euganean  Hills.  Then,  quite 
near  you,  the  wonderful  city  of  Venice,  with  its 
towers,  its  great  golden  church  of  St.  Mark,  and 
its  stately  palaces,  rises  straight  out  of  the  pale 
green  water. 

You  ask  :  Why  and  how  did  people  ever 
think  of  building  a  great  town  right  out  among 
these  wild,  salt  lagoons  ?  How  did  this  glorious 
city  ever  get  here  at  all  ?  And  you  might  well 
add,  What  does  it  stand  upon,  for  it  looks  as  if 
it  were  built  in  the  sea  ?  Well  might  a  writer 
of  olden  time  say  of  the  dwellers  in  the  lagoons  : 
"  There  lie  your  houses,  built  like  sea-birds' 
nests,  half  on  sea  and  half  on  land  ;  spread,  as 
the  Cyclades,  over  the  surface  of  the  waters." 

Now,  in  order  to  find  any  kind  of  answer  to 
these  questions,  you  must  turn  your  thoughts 
back  many  hundreds  of  years,  first  of  all  to 
Roman  times,  when  the  part  of  Italy  we  call 
Venetia  was  inhabited  by  a  people  called  the 
Heneti.  These  people,  who  gave  their  name 
to  the  country,  are  generally  supposed  to  have 
come  from  Asia  Minor,  because  of  the  kind  of 
dress  that  was  worn,  and  the  kind  of  speech 
that  was  used  in  early  Venetian  days.  The 
Heneti  finally  joined  the  Romans,  in  order  to 
protect  themselves  from  the  Gauls,  and  their 
country  became  part  of  the  Roman  province  of 
Cisalpine  Gaul.  For  a  long  time  Cisalpine 
Gaul  was  one  of  the   most   prosperous  of  all 


ATTILA   AND   VENICE  3 

the  Roman  provinces ;  great  roads  were  made, 
and  many  important  towns  were  built.  Then, 
about  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Marcus  Aurelius, 
the  barbarians  be^an  to  attack  and  devastate 
the  country,  and  these  terrible  invasions  went 
on  from  time  to  time  for  two  hundred  years, 
You  will  hear  more  about  it  in  some  of  our 
other  stories.  For  the  present,  you  must  fix 
your  mind  on  something  that  happened  in 
Europe  during  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries 
after  Christ,  and  which  has  a  good  deal  to 
do  with  the  history  of  Venice. 

About  the  year  374  a  terrible  horde  of 
savage  people,  ugly,  skinny,  and  dirty,  had 
swept  across  from  Asia,  and  had  attacked  and 
conquered  a  people  called  the  Ostrogoths, 
who  then  lived  in  the  country  we  call  South 
Russia.  These  savages  were  the  Huns,  whose 
very  name  is  still  a  terror  in  Europe.  The 
Huns  were  an  Asiatic  people,  and  were  like 
the  Mongolian,  Calmuck,  and  Turkish  races. 
"They  did  not  belong  to  the  same  division  of 
the  human  family  as  the  Europeans.  They 
were  a  cruel  nation,  loving  war  for  its  own 
sake,  and  delighting  in  robbery  and  destruction. 
We  shall  read  again  about  their  great  fight 
with  the  Ostrogoths,  and  of  how  Hermanric, 
the  brave  old  Ostrogoth  chief,  chose  to  die 
rather  than  see  his  people  slaves  of  the  Huns. 

Now,  in  the  next  century,  in  the  year  433, 


4  STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

two  brothers,  Attila  and  Bleda,  began  to  reign 
over  the  Huns.  Twelve  years  later,  Bleda  died, 
and  Attila  became  sole  king.  We  all  know  that 
Attila's  very  name  has  become  another  word  for 
ferocity  and  savagery.  We  are  told  that  like 
most  of  the  Huns,  he  was  a  little  man,  broad- 
chested,  with  a  large  head  and  very  ugly  features. 
He  used  to  walk  or  strut  about  very  proudly, 
and  rolled  his  eyes  hither  and  thither,  as  if  he 
were  feeling  very  triumphant.  He  was  a  lover 
of  war,  but  was  not  given  to  doing  acts  of 
violence  himself;  he  was  very  clever  and  very 
cunning,  and  struck  terror  into  everybody.  An 
old  historian  tells  us  that  Attila  always  felt  sure 
he  should  do  great  things,  and  he  felt  all  the 
more  sure  of  this  because  he  had  got  possession 
of  a  sacred  sword,  known  as  the  "sword  of 
Mars." 

This  is  the  story  of  how  the  sword  was  found. 
A  certain  herdsman  one  day  noticed  that  one 
of  his  heifers  was  limping.  He  followed  the 
marks  of  her  bleeding  footprints,  and  at  last 
came  upon  a  sword,  on  which  the  heifer  had 
trodden  while  she  was  grazing.  The  herdsman 
dug  up  the  sword  and  carried  it  to  Attila,  who 
declared  it  to  be  the  sword  of  Mars,  and  re- 
ceived it  with  great  exultation.  He  gave  the 
herdsman  a  handsome  present  for  bringing  it 
to  him.  As  Attila  had  now  got  this  wonderful 
sword,  he  considered  himself  to  be  the  sovereign 


ATTILA  AND  VENICE  5 

of  the  whole  world,  and  to  be  certain  of  victory 
in  war  always  and  everywhere. 

At  the  time  of  which  we  are  speaking,  the 
Hunnish  Empire  seems  to  have  spread  over  a 
great  part  of  Europe,  from  the  Caspian  Sea 
to  the  river  Rhine  ;  but  Attila' s  own  territory 
appears  to  have  been  in  the  great  plain  we 
now  call  Hungary,  between  the  river  Danube 
and  the  Carpathian  Mountains. 

A  well-known  writer  of  our  own  day  tells 
us  how  it  was  said  that  Attila  "subjected  the 
islands  in  the  ocean  to  his  sway."  These 
islands,  he  adds,  were  evidently  Denmark  and 
the  southern  part  of  Sweden,  which  was  at 
that  time  thought  to  be  an  island.  Perhaps 
the  Huns  did  not  rule  for  very  long  in  those 
countries,  but  the  same  writer  points  out  that  it 
was  probably  this  invasion  by  the  Huns  that 
drove  the  Angles  and  Saxons  across  to  Britain, 
where,  as  we  know,  they  made  their  home. 

It  is  curious  to  think  that  those  wild  Asiatic 
savages  may  possibly  have  helped  in  the  early 
beginnings  of  the  British  Empire,  and  in  the 
formation  of  the  An^lo- Saxon  race. 

In  the  year  451,  Attila,  with  a  terrible  host 
of  half  a  million  barbarians,  crossed  the  Rhine 
on  rafts,  and  attacked  the  parts  of  Gaul  we  now 
know  as  Lorraine  and  Northern  France.  It 
was  during  this  fearful  invasion  and  war  that 
Paris  was  believed  to  have  been  saved  by  the 


6         STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

prayers  of  St.  Genevieve,  and  ever  since  that 
time  St.  Genevieve  has  been  the  patron  saint 
of  Paris.  The  Huns  got  down  as  far  as  the 
river  Loire,  and  besieged  the  town  of  Orleans. 
The  people  of  Orleans  were  terrified,  and  hardly 
dared  to  hope  for  deliverance  ;  but  their  brave 
Bishop  bade  them  be  of  good  courage,  and 
foretold  that  the  town  would  be  saved.  And 
so,  indeed,  it  came  to  pass  ;  for  on  the  very 
day  foretold  by  the  Bishop  the  Roman  and 
Visigothic  armies,  under  the  great  general 
Aetius  and  the  Visigoth  king,  were  seen 
approaching  the  city.  When  Attila  found  what 
was  happening,  he  changed  his  plans,  and  went 
back  towards  the  Rhine.  On  his  way  back  he 
stopped  at  Troyes,  the  town  where,  hundreds 
of  years  afterwards,  our  King  Henry  v.  was 
married  to  Katherine  de  Valois.  Attila  spared 
the  town  of  Troyes,  on  condition  that  the 
Bishop,  St.  Lupus,  should  go  with  him  as  far  as 
the  Rhine. 

But  Attila  did  not  get  to  the  Rhine  as  soon 
as  he  expected,  because  a  little  way  from  the 
town  of  Troyes  the  pursuing  armies  came  up 
with  him,  and  here,  on  the  Mauriac  plain,  was 
fought  one  of  the  great  battles  of  history,  the 
battle  known  as  the  battle  of  Chalons.  Attila 
and  his  Huns  were  defeated,  after  awful 
slaughter  on  both  sides.  More  people  were 
killed   at    the    battle  of   Chalons  than    in   any 


Photo'] 


[Anderson. 


ATTILA   TURNED    BACK    BY    ST.    LEO   THE    GREAT. 

(St.  Peter's,  Rome.) 


ATTILA  AND  VENICE  7 

fight  before  the  invention  of  gunpowder.  The 
reason  the  battle  of  Chalons  was  of  such  great 
importance  is  that  it  prevented  the  Tartar  race 
from  becoming  master  in  Europe,  and  saved 
our  European  civilisation. 

After  the  battle,  Attila  retreated  to  the 
Rhine,  and  got  back  to  his  own  dominions. 

But  it  is  the  next  year,  452,  which  has 
especially  to  do  with  our  present  story.  Attila 
was  full  of  wrath  at  his  defeat  in  Gaul,  and  was 
determined  to  wipe  out  the  disgrace  of  having 
been  conquered.  So,  in  452,  he  and  his  Huns 
invaded  Italy.  They  crossed  the  Julian  Alps, 
which  are  part  of  the  north-east  mountain  wall 
of  Italy,  and  swarmed  down  on  to  the  province 
of  Venetia.  Here,  on  this  beautiful  plain,  the 
furious  Huns  burnt,  slew,  and  robbed,  laying 
waste  one  fair  city  after  another.  One  of  the 
most  fierce  and  awful  acts  of  devastation  was 
the  sack  and  destruction  of  the  ancient  city  of 
Aquileia,  which  had  been  one  of  the  great 
defences  and  glories  of  this  part  of  Italy  in 
Roman  times.  Aquileia  made  a  long  and 
heroic  resistance,  and  when  at  last  the  Huns 
got  in,  their  rage  was  all  the  more  savage 
because  they  had  had  to  wait  so  long.  The 
inhabitants  were  treated  with  hideous  cruelty, 
and  the  city  was  reduced  to  a  heap  of  smoking, 
blackened  ruins. 

Such  of  the  unhappy  people  as  escaped  from 


8         STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Aquileia,  Concordia,  Altinum,  and  other  cities, 
fled  to  the  lagoons  at  the  mouth  of  the  great 
rivers  which  flow  into  the  Adriatic.  Here  they 
found  the  strange  little  lagoon-islands  inhabited 
chiefly  by  fisher-folk  who  lived  in  wattled 
huts,  and  here  the  people  who  fled  from  the 
fury  of  Attila  founded  what  afterwards  grew 
into  the  lovely  and  famous  city  of  Venice. 
This  year,  452,  is  usually  spoken  of  as  the 
birth-year  of  Venice,  but  the  Venetian  State 
can  hardly  be  said  to  have  begun  until  466,  for 
it  was  in  that  year  that  the  people  first  began 
to  elect  their  own  officers  from  among  them- 
selves, officers  whom  they  called  by  the  old 
Roman  name  of  "  Tribunes."  The  Tribunes 
had  to  govern  the  twelve  townships  of  the 
lagoons.  At  the  time  of  the  great  Lombard 
invasion  under  Alboin,  in  568,  the  Venetians 
finally  settled  in  the  islands  of  the  lagoons,  and 
gave  up  all  thought  of  going  back  to  their  old 
homes  on  the  mainland.  It  was  then  that  people 
first  began  to  live  on  the  wild,  lonely  island  of 
Torcello,  and  to  build  churches  there.  The 
first  church,  dedicated  to  St.  Mary,  is  no  longer 
there  ;  but  the  present  cathedral  is  hundreds  of 
years  old,  and  is  most  beautiful  and  wonderful. 
A  curious  old  story  is  told  about  the  settle- 
ment at  Torcello.  One  of  the  great  cities  of 
Venetia  in  Roman  times  was  called  Altinum. 
After  a  long  struggle,  this  city  had  been  taken 


ATTILA  AND  VENICE  9 

and  plundered  by  Attila  and  his  Huns.  Now, 
more  than  a  century  afterwards,  it  was 
threatened  by  the  terrible  Lombards,  and  the 
people  made  up  their  minds  to  flee  elsewhere 
for  safety. 

They  sought  for  guidance,  and  tradition  says 
that  a  vision  was  vouchsafed  to  their  Bishop, 
Paulus.  He  heard  a  voice  that  bade  him  climb 
the  tower  and  look  at  the  stars.  He  obeyed, 
and  he  saw  that  the  very  stars  themselves 
seemed  to  form  the  figure  of  the  group  of 
islands  in  the  lagoon.  This  he  and  his  people 
took  to  be  a  sign  from  heaven,  and  they  set 
sail  with  all  their  most  precious  possessions  for 
the  island  which  they  afterwards  called  Torcello, 
in  memory  of  the  many  towers  of  their  old  city, 
Altinum,  which  had  been  burned  by  the  savage 
Alboin. 

There  is  an  ancient  marble  seat,  lying  amid 
the  grass  in  the  piazza  at  Torcello,  which  is  still 
called  "  Attila's  throne."  It  is  interesting  to  see 
how  the  memory  of  the  fierce  Attila  lives  to 
this  day  in  those  countries  which  he  ravaged. 
In  the  year  697  the  Venetians  elected  their 
first  Doge,  or  Duke,  to  be  their  leader  in  war, 
and  the  head  of  their  State.  The  name  of 
this  Doge  was  Paolo  Anafesto,  and  he  was  the 
first  of  the  hundred  and  twenty  Doges  of 
Venice.  There  were  Do^es  of  Venice  for  more 
than  eleven  hundred  years. 


io       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Until  the  year  809  the  Venetians  lived 
chiefly  on  the  islands  of  Heraclea,  Jesolo,  and 
Malamocco.  The  seat  of  government  was  on 
one  or  other  of  those  islands,  and,  as  might  be 
expected,  they  did  not  always  agree  among 
themselves.  But  in  the  year  809  Venice  was 
threatened  by  a  great  danger,  which  had  the 
good  effect  of  making  the  citizens  more  united. 
The  Venetian  settlements  were  attacked  by 
Pepin,  son  of  Charlemagne,  who  had  con- 
quered the  Lombards,  and  had  been  crowned 
Roman  Emperor,  as  you  will  read  later  on. 

Now  Pepin  had  been  crowned  King  of  Italy, 
and  he  wanted  to  make  himself  master  of  the 
Venetians,  who  were  much  too  independent  to 
please  him,  and  also  too  friendly  with  the 
Greek  Emperor  at  Constantinople.  So  Pepin 
and  his  Franks  sailed  up  the  coast  and  laid 
siege  to  several  of  the  islands — Malamocco,  the 
capital,  among  them.  After  a  time,  the  Franks 
captured  Malamocco,  but  they  found  only  a 
deserted  island  ;  no  one  was  there. 

What  had  happened  was  this.  When  the 
Doge  and  the  Venetian  people  saw  that  their 
capital  was  threatened  by  the  Franks,  they 
decided  all  to  join  together  and  settle  the  seat 
of  government  on  a  little  group  of  islands 
called  Rivoalto,  or  Rialto,  half-way  between 
the  mainland  and  the  sea,  so  that  it  was  pro- 
tected from  attack  either  by  land  or  by  water. 


ATTILA   AND   VENICE  n 

Here,  on  Rialto,  the  present  city  of  Venice 
stands. 

Meanwhile,  the  Franks  tried  to  attack  the 
settlement  on  Rialto,  but  in  vain.  The 
Venetians  drove  their  rafts  and  pontoons  on  to 
the  shoals,  and  besides  this,  the  Frankish  army 
suffered  greatly  from  illness  during  the  great 
summer  heats.  When,  at  last,  Pepin  found 
himself  threatened  by  a  Greek  fleet,  he  made 
peace,  and  promised  to  withdraw.  The  Vene- 
tians ofot  back  the  lands  he  had  taken  from 
them,  and  were  allowed  their  old  trading  rights 
on  condition  of  making  a  yearly  payment. 

Thus  the  Venetians  were  finally  successful  in 
their  fight  with  King  Pepin,  and  their  position 
as  an  independent  people  was  now  secure. 
They  were  subject  only  to  the  Roman  Emperor 
at  Byzantium. 

This  is  perhaps  a  good  place  in  which  to  say 
a  few  words  about  the  Venetian  State,  and 
about  the  form  of  government  in  the  Republic. 

It  would  take  a  long  time  to  explain  every- 
thing about  the  government  of  Venice,  because 
the  plan  of  it  became  very  complicated  as  time 
went  on.  Only  a  very  simple  outline  will  be 
given  here. 

As  you  have  heard,  the  Doge  was  at  first 
elected  by  the  whole  people,  and  in  the  early 
days  he  was  very  powerful.  He  had  the  right 
to   impose    taxes ;    the    army    was   under   his 


12        STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

authority  ;  the  foreign  affairs  of  the  nation  were 
in  his  hands,  although  he  could  not  declare 
war  or  make  peace  without  the  consent  of  the 
people.  The  Doge  lived  in  the  same  kind  of 
pomp  and  state  as  if  he  were  a  king.  On  great 
occasions  he  sat  on  an  ivory  throne,  arrayed 
in  costly  robes  and  holding  a  sceptre.  When 
he  went  out,  he  was  surrounded  by  guards, 
lighted  tapers  were  carried,  and  trumpets  were 
played.  The  celebrated  portrait  of  the  Doge 
Leonardo  Loredano,  by  Giovanni  Bellini,  in  the 
National  Gallery,  will  show  you  what  the  Doges 
of  Venice  wore,  and  what  the  famous  jewelled 
cap  or  biretta  of  the  Doges  was  like. 

The  office  of  the  Doge  was  for  life,  but  it 
was  not  hereditary.  Sometimes,  however,  it 
did  happen  that  a  son  succeeded  his  father  as 
Doge,  but  this  was  not  liked  by  the  Venetians. 
They  did  not  at  all  wish  to  have  an  hereditary 
ducal  family,  but  determined  to  remain  in- 
dependent, and  free  to  choose  the  head  of  their 
State  for  themselves. 

As  time  went  on,  the  Doges  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  people  on  the  other,  were  shorn 
of  a  good  deal  of  their  power,  and  the  real 
power  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Great  Council. 

This  Great  Council  was  formed  in  1172.  It 
was  appointed  in  order  that  the  State  should 
no  longer  be  at  the  mercy  either  of  the  populace 
or  of  the  Doge.      It  was  arranged  that  hence- 


ATTILA  AND   VENICE  i« 


j 


forward  the  Council  should  represent  the  people, 
and  elect  the  Doge  and  the  other  officers  of 
state. 

Later  on  again,  the  Great  Council  was  closed 
to  all  except  the  members  of  certain  families 
belonging  to  the  Venetian  aristocracy.  This 
very  important  revolution,  known  as  the  "  Ser- 
rata  del  Gran  Consiglio,"  or  shutting  of  the 
Great  Council,  took  place  in  1297,  and  from 
that  time  onwards  the  government  of  Venice 
was  what  is  called  an  oligarchy,  or  government 
by  one  comparatively  small,  exclusive  class. 
The  names  of  the  families  and  people  who  had 
the  right  to  enter  the  Council  were  written  in 
the  famous  Golden  Book  (Libro  d'  Oro),  as  it 
was  called. 

When  the  Great  Council  grew  too  large  to 
manage  all  the  details  of  government,  some  of 
its  powers  were  handed  over  to  the  Senate. 
The  Privy  Council  and  the  Doge  together 
presided  over  the  Senate.  The  celebrated 
Signory  of  Venice,  of  which  you  will  read  so 
often  in  other  books,  was  composed  of  the 
Doge,  the  six  Privy  Councillors,  and  the  three 
chiefs  of  the  judicial  council,  called  the  Council 
of  Forty. 

This  Signory — the  "  Serenissima  Signoria" 
— was  the  real  head  of  the  State,  and  the 
Doge  could  not  act  without  the  rest  of  the 
Signory. 


14       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN    HISTORY 

In  stories  about  Venice  you  constantly  read 
of  the  Council  of  Ten,  and  very  weird  and 
terrible  tales  are  sometimes  told  of  the  things 
done  by  this  Council.  The  Council  of  Ten  was 
finally  formed  in  1335,  when  it  was  settled  that 
it  should  always  be  part  of  the  Government. 

The  Ten  were  elected  by  the  Great  Council, 
and  each  member  sat  for  a  year.  At  the  end 
of  that  time  he  retired,  and  went  back  to  his 
usual  life.  This  Council  of  Ten  had  great 
power  ;  they  judged  in  nearly  all  cases  concern- 
ing crimes  against  the  State,  and  offences  of 
any  kind  against  the  law  ;  they  had  the  power 
to  inflict  any  punishment — fines,  imprisonment, 
banishment,  or  death. 

About  two  hundred  years  later  the  Tribunal 
of  the  Three  State  Inquisitors  was  set  up, 
chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  the  Vene- 
tian State  against  Spanish  plots. 

The  secrecy  and  fearful  swiftness  with  which 
these  tribunals  often  acted  has  caused  their  very 
name  to  become  a  terror,  but  the  Government 
of  Venice  was  really  very  just  and  equal,  and  it 
had  a  very  good  name  for  the  humane  way  in 
which  it  treated  its  prisoners.  One  thing  alone 
will  show  this.  For  many  centuries,  alas ! 
torture  was  used  in  every  country  of  Christian 
Europe,  and  the  unhappy  people  who  were 
suspected  of  any  crime  were  put  to  torture  to 
make  them  confess.     The  Venetian    Republic 


ATTILA   AND   VENICE  15 

used  torture  like  the  rest,  but  they  provided 
a  surgeon  who  examined  the  prisoners  to  see 
whether  they  could  bear  it.  The  Venetians 
were  thus  unusually  merciful,  when  we  consider 
the  cruelties  that  were  commonly  practised  until 
a  comparatively  short  time  ago. 

The  Venetian  Government  was  also  much 
more  liberal  and  tolerant  in  religious  matters 
than  most  other  European  States,  and  the  In- 
quisition was  never  allowed  to  have  such  power 
in  Venice  as  it  had  in  other  countries.  Indeed, 
it  was  some  time  before  the  Venetians  would 
have  the  Inquisition  admitted  at  all  into  their 
dominions. 

It  is  rather  sad  to  think  that  this  glorious 
Republic  sank  at  last  into  a  luxurious  and 
pleasure-seeking  life,  and  thus  lost  her  strength 
and  dignity. 

Venice  was  famous  for  her  splendid  feasts 
and  pageants,  but  in  her  great  days  she  was 
not  celebrated  for  these  alone,  but  rather  for 
the  vigour  and  energy  of  her  sons,  and  for  the 
power  of  self-sacrifice  in  her  people,  who 
poured  out  blood  and  treasure  in  her  defence. 

The  Venetian  Republic  lasted  until  1797, 
when  it  sank  before  the  armies  of  Napoleon, 
and  Venice  became  for  a  time  subject  to 
Austria.     Venice  was  united   to  the  kingdom 

o 

of  Italy  in  1866. 

We  must  now  turn  back  again  to  the  early 


16        STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

days,  and  try  to  realise  how  Venice  won  her 
extraordinary  place  and  power. 

You  will  find  many  books  which  describe 
Venice  and  tell  her  history,  and  you  will  see 
many  pictures  which  show  you  her  beauty. 
Here  we  can  only  speak  very  shortly  of  some 
few  of  the  things  that  made  her  famous 
throughout  the  world. 

First  of  all,  let  us  think  of  what  is  perhaps 
the  most  wonderful  thing  in  Venetian  history — 
that  is,  the  passionate  love  of  freedom  and 
independence,  and  the  splendid  courage  and 
perseverance  which  helped  Venice  to  succeed 
in  becoming,  and  remaining,  an  independent 
and  self-governing  State.  The  independence 
of  Venice  is  all  the  more  wonderful  when  we 
consider  how  closely  she  was  surrounded  by 
powerful  and  warlike  nations.  In  early  days 
she  had  to  hold  her  own  against  the  Lombards 
and  the  Franks ;  later  on,  she  had  to  struggle 
against  the  rising  powers  of  France,  Austria, 
and  Spain. 

But  if  we  think  for  a  moment,  we  shall  see 
how  the  very  things  which  seemed  so  sad  and 
so  terrible  at  the  time  were  really  of  great  use 
to  Venice.  We  have  read  how  the  people  who 
founded  Venice  had  been  driven  from  their 
beautiful  homes  by  the  barbarians,  and  how 
they  had  been  obliged  to  take  refuge  on  the 
wild  islands  of  the  lagoons.     Yet  we  also  find 


ATTILA  AND  VENICE  17 

that  these  very  misfortunes  made  the  Venetians 
choose  the  safest  possible  place  in  which  to 
found  their  State,  and  we  see  that  the  city  of 
Venice  stands  free  of  the  mainland,  defended 
from  attack  by  land  by  the  great  sheets  of 
water  which  are  called  the  lagoons,  and  that 
she  is  protected  from  the  sea  by  the  long, 
narrow  sand-dunes  which  are  called  the  "lidi." 
Inside  the  lagoons,  moreover,  there  are  many 
puzzling  currents  and  channels  which  would 
make  it  very  difficult  for  an  enemy  to  steer  his 
ships,  even  if  he  ever  got  inside  at  all. 

The  glory  and  safety  of  Venice,  like  that  of 
England,  seemed  to  be  bound  up  with  the  sea, 
and  this  is  only  one  of  several  things  in  which 
England  and  Venice  are  much  alike.  Venice, 
like  England,  was  the  greatest  sea-power  of 
her  time  ;  she  was  also,  in  a  sense,  a  "  crowned 
Republic,"  as  Tennyson  has  called  England. 
Again,  she  held  a  large  foreign  empire,  and 
through  her  vast  trade  and  commerce  she 
became  the  great  central  mart  of  exchange  in 
Europe  during  several  centuries. 

One  of  the  great  state  ceremonies  in  Venice 
had  especially  to  do  with  her  dominion  over 
the  sea ;  for  Venice,  like  Britannia,  claimed  to 
"  rule  the  waves."  This  famous  ceremony  was 
known  as  the  ''Wedding  of  the  Adriatic,"  and 
was  solemnly  performed  by  the  Doge,  in  full 
state,    on  Ascension   Day.     This  custom  first 


18       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

began  in  998,  after  some  great  Venetian  vic- 
tories on  the  Dalmatian  coast,  and  in  later  days 
it  became  a  most  splendid  national  festival. 

The  Doge  used  to  sail  out  from  Venice  in 
his  gorgeous  state  barge,  called  the  Bucintoro. 
With  him  were  the  Patriarch  of  Venice  and  the 
other  clergy,  the  chief  officers  of  state  and  the 
foreign  ambassadors.  The  great  flag  of  St. 
Mark,  with  its  golden  lion  on  a  red  ground, 
floated  over  the  barge,  which  was  followed  by 
a  procession  of  beautiful  galleys  and  gondolas. 
The  Bucintoro  passed  out  from  the  lagoon  into 
the  open  sea — the  sparkling  blue  Adriatic — 
and  then  a  ring  was  blessed  by  the  Patriarch 
and  handed  by  him  to  the  Doge.  The  Doge 
took  the  ring  and  cast  it  into  the  waves, 
saying,  as  he  did  so,  "  Sea,  we  wed  thee  in 
token  of  our  true  and  perpetual  dominion  over 
thee."  Then,  in  the  evening,  a  great  banquet 
was  given  at  the  Ducal  Palace  to  the  admirals 
and  the  masters  of  the  arsenal ;  a  fair  was 
held  in  the  city,  and  the  people  had  a  week 
of  holiday  and  amusement.  Such  was  the 
celebration  of  the  Wedding  of  the  Adriatic, 
which  was  held  as  long  as  the  Republic  of 
Venice  lasted — that  is,  until  1797.  The 
Venetians  used  to  call  this  festival  "  La 
Sensa." 

We  have  spoken  more  than  once  of  the 
position    of    Venice,    and    of    the    help    that 


ATTILA  AND  VENICE  19 

position  was  to  her  as  a  defence  from  enemies. 
If  you  look  once  more  at  the  map,  you  will  see 
how  finely  placed  she  was  as  a  centre  for  trade 
and  commerce,  for  she  was  in  the  midst  of  the 
great  highways  North  and  South,  East  and 
West.  On  one  side  her  merchant  fleet  could 
carry  her  merchandise  to  Constantinople,  Syria, 
Egypt,  and  even  within  reach  of  the  Far  East, 
while  on  the  other  side  her  ships  could  easily 
get  to  Spain,  Flanders,  and  England,  where 
her  chief  port  was  Southampton.  The  northern 
road  over  the  Alps  led  the  Venetians  to 
Innsbruck,  to  Munich,  and  to  the  Lake  of 
Constance,  so  that  they  could  trade  with 
Germany  and  the  North. 

All  these  countries  poured  their  wealth  into 
Venice,  and  on  the  Rialto  people  might  see 
the  products  and  treasures  of  many  lands. 
The  famous  poet  Petrarch,  who  lived  for  some 
time  in  Venice,  thus  described  what  he  used 
to  see  there  :  "  From  my  windows  on  the  Riva 
degli  Schiavoni,  I  see  vessels  as  large  as  my 
house  with  masts  taller  than  its  towers.  They 
sail  to  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  brave  a 
thousand  dangers.  They  carry  wine  to 
England ;  honey  to  the  Scythians ;  saffron, 
oil,  linen  to  Assyria,  Armenia,  Persia,  and 
Arabia ;  wood  to  Egypt  and  Greece ;  they 
return  laden  with  merchandise  to  be  distributed 
all  over  Europe.     Where  the  sea  ends,  their 


20       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

sailors  quit  the  ships  and  travel  on  to  trade 
with  India  and  China ;  they  cross  the  Caucasus 
and  the  Ganges,  and  reach  the  Eastern 
Ocean." 

Think  of  the  gorgeous  jewels  and  Eastern 
carpets  which  Petrarch  must  have  seen  coming 
into  Venice,  and  of  such  things  as  coffee,  sugar, 
and  spices,  which  used  to  arrive  there  from 
the  East,  to  be  sent  to  all  parts  of  Europe. 

Another  great  feature  in  Venetian  history  is 
the  important  part  that  Venice  took  in  the 
Crusades,  and  especially  in  the  Fourth  Crusade. 
It  is  true  that  the  Venetians  probably  thought 
quite  as  much  of  extending  their  possessions 
and  their  trade  as  of  helping  the  Christians  in 
the  Holy  Land,  but  all  the  same  we  must  admire 
the  splendid  courage,  energy,  and  ability  that 
they  showed.  During  the  time  of  the  Crusades 
the  power  of  Venice  increased  steadily.  As 
one  by  one  the  various  towns  were  conquered, 
Venice,  who  was  the  chief  provider  of  the  ships, 
insisted  on  having  her  own  quarter  in  each 
town.  This  meant  that  in  such  towns  as  Tyre, 
Sidon,  Acre,  Constantinople,  Venice  had  her 
own  church,  street,  market-place,  bakery,  and 
so  on,  together  with  the  right  to  use  her  own 
weights  and  measures. 

At  the  time  of  the  Fourth  Crusade  the  Doge 
of  Venice  was  the  brave  old  Enrico  Dandolo, 
one  of  the  great  Venetian    heroes.     Dandolo 


ATTILA   AND   VENICE  21 

had  lost  his  sight  through  a  wound,  and  was 
very  aged ;  but  in  spite  of  all  that,  he  went  in 
person  with  the  fleet  and  the  army,  and  was 
indeed  the  chief  leader  in  the  whole  Crusade. 

It  was  Pope  Innocent  111.  who  was  so  anxious 
for  this  Fourth  Crusade,  and  it  was  decided 
upon  by  the  Assembly  at  Soissons  in  1201, 
when  Venice  was  asked  to  supply  the  fleet 
which  was  to  carry  the  Crusaders  to  the  East. 
The  Venetians  fulfilled  their  part  of  the 
bargain  quite  punctually  ;  but,  alas  !  when  the 
appointed  time  came,  there  were  not  enough 
Crusaders  to  fill  the  ships,  and  not  enough 
money  to  pay  for  them.  So  it  ended  in  the 
Venetians  making  a  fresh  bargain.  The 
Venetians  would  lend  the  fleet,  and  wait  for 
the  rest  of  the  money,  on  condition  that  the 
Crusaders  first  helped  them  to  take  the  town 
of  Zara,  on  the  Dalmatian  coast.  The 
Crusading  army  consented,  and  so  the  great 
fleet,  with  all  its  magnificent  banners  flying, 
and  with  the  three  huge  galleys,  the  Pilgrim, 
the  Eagle,  and  the  Paradise,  sailed  off  down 
the  Adriatic,  and  besieged  and  took  Zara. 
The  Pope  was  very  indignant  at  this  delay  ; 
but  there  was  still  further  delay,  because,  at  the 
wish  of  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat,  the  fleet 
went  off  to  besiege  Constantinople.  After  a 
desperate  struggle,  Constantinople  was  taken  ; 
the  old  blind  Doge  was  the  man  who  urged 


22       STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN    HISTORY 

the  sailors  on,  and  was  the  first  warrior  ashore. 
This  was  in  1204. 

The  Greek  Emperor  was  dethroned,  and  a 
Latin  Emperor  set  up  instead.  This  Emperor 
was  Baldwin,  Count  of  Flanders.  Venice  got 
more  and  more  possessions  in  the  Eastern 
Mediterranean,  and  among  them  the  island  of 
Crete.  Indeed,  she  now  became  an  Empire 
in  her  turn,  and  was  mistress  of  the  trade  in 
the  Levant.  The  Venetians  brought  many 
treasures  home  from  Constantinople,  such  as 
the  four  famous  bronze  horses  which  adorn 
the  front  of  St.  Mark's,  and  also  many  jewels 
which  were  used  to  ornament  the  Pala  d'  Oro, 
or  gold  reredos  in  St.  Mark's.  As  for  the 
brave  old  Dandolo,  he  died  in  1205,  and  was 
buried  in  a  chapel  belonging  to  the  Venetians 
in  the  great  church  of  St.  Sophia  at  Con- 
stantinople. A  magnificent  monument  was 
put  up  to  him,  but  this  was  destroyed  by  the 
Sultan  Mahomet  11.,  and  Dandolo's  armour 
was  given  to  the  Venetian  painter,  Gentile 
Bellini,  who  brought  it  back  to  Venice. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  wonderful 
way  in  which  Venice  traded  with  the  Far  East, 
and  this  recalls  the  name  of  the  orreat  Venetian 
traveller,  Marco  Polo,  reminding  us  also  that, 
like  our  own  English  folk,  the  Venetians  loved 
travel  and  adventure. 

Marco  Polo  was  born  about  the  year  1255, 


ATTILA   AND  VENICE  23 

and  belonged  to  an  old  Venetian  trading 
family.  His  father  Niccolo  and  his  uncle 
Maffeo  had  already  made  a  great  journey  to 
the  Far  East,  and  had  been  very  graciously 
received  by  the  famous  Kublai  Khan,  the 
Tartar  Emperor  of  China,  who  was  very 
anxious  to  learn  all  he  could  from  them, 
especially  about  the  Christian  religion. 

In  1269,  Niccolo  and  Maffeo  returned,  going 
first  to  Acre,  and  then  to  Venice.  In  1271 
they  set  out  again  for  the  East,  and  this  time 
they  took  with  them  the  young  Marco,  who 
was  now  grown  up.  After  many  adventures, 
they  arrived  once  more  at  the  court  of  Kublai 
Khan,  where  they  spent  seventeen  years. 

Marco  Polo  was  sent  about  on  various 
important  missions  to  different  places,  some 
at  very  long  distances  from  the  capital.  He 
has  left  splendid  descriptions  of  what  he  saw 
on  his  many  travels  in  Persia,  China,  Japan, 
and  the  Indies. 

One  of  the  stories  told  by  Marco  Polo  must 
be  retold  here,  as  it  contains  a  beautiful  and 
interesting  legend.  We  will  quote  the  trans- 
lation of  Marco's  own  words.  He  is  speaking 
of  the  province  of  Persia,  and  writes  as 
follows  : — 

11  Persia  was  anciently  a  large  and  noble  pro- 
vince, but  it  is  now  in  great  part  destroyed  by 
the  Tartars.      In  Persia  there  is  a  city  which 


24       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

is  called  Saba,  from  whence  were  the  three 
magi  who  came  to  adore  Christ  in  Bethlehem  ; 
and  the  three  are  buried  in  that  city  in  a  fair 
sepulchre,  and  they  are  all  there  entire  with 
their  beards  and  hair.  One  was  called  Baldasar, 
the  second  Gaspar,  and  the  third  Melchior. 
Marco  inquired  often  in  that  city  concerning 
the  three  magi,  and  nobody  could  tell  him 
anything  about  them,  except  that  the  three 
magi  were  buried  there  in  ancient  times. 
After  three  days'  journey  you  come  to  a  castle 
which  is  called  Palasata,  which  means  the  castle 
of  the  fire-worshippers ;  and  it  is  true  that 
the  inhabitants  of  that  castle  worship  fire,  and 
this  is  given  as  the  reason.  The  men  of  that 
castle  say  that  anciently  three  kings  of  that 
country  went  to  adore  a  certain  king  who  was 
newly  born,  and  carried  with  them  three 
offerings,  namely,  gold,  frankincense,  and 
myrrh  :  gold,  that  they  might  know  if  he  were 
an  earthly  king  ;  frankincense,  that  they  might 
know  if  he  were  God  ;  and  myrrh,  that  they 
might  know  if  he  were  a  mortal  man. 

"  When  these  magi  were  presented  to  Christ, 
the  youngest  of  the  three  adored  Him  first,  and 
it  appeared  to  him  that  Christ  was  of  his  stature 
and  age.  The  middle  one  came  next,  and  then 
the  eldest,  and  to  each  He  seemed  to  be  of  their 
own  stature  and  age.  Having  compared  their 
observations  together,  they  agreed  to  go  all  to 


ATTILA   AND   VENICE  25 

worship  at  once,  and  then  He  appeared  to  them 
all  of  His  true  age.  When  they  went  away,  the 
Infant  gave  them  a  closed  box,  which  they 
carried  with  them  for  several  days,  and  then 
becoming  curious  to  see  what  He  had  given 
them,  they  opened  the  box,  and  found  in  it  a 
stone,  which  was  intended  for  a  sign  that  they 
should  remain  as  firm  as  a  stone  in  the  faith 
they  had  received  from  Him.  When,  however, 
they  saw  the  stone,  they  marvelled,  and  think- 
ing themselves  deluded,  they  threw  the  stone 
into  a  certain  pit,  and  instantly  fire  burst  forth 
in  the  pit.  When  they  saw  this,  they  repented 
bitterly  of  what  they  had  done,  and  taking 
some  of  the  fire  with  them,  they  carried  it  home. 
And  having  placed  it  in  one  of  their  churches, 
they  keep  it  continually  burning,  and  adore 
that  fire  as  a  god,  and  make  all  their  sacrifices 
to  it  ;  and  if  it  happen  to  be  extinguished,  they 
go  for  more  to  the  original  fire  in  the  pit  where 
they  threw  the  stone,  which  is  never  extin- 
guished, and  they  take  of  none  other  fire. 
And  therefore  the  people  of  that  country 
worship  fire.  Marco  was  told  all  this  by 
the  people  of  the  country  ;  and  it  is  true  that 
one  of  those  kings  was  of  Saba,  and  the 
second  was  of  Dyava,  and  the  third  was  of 
the  castle." 

You  may  remember  that  old  Italian  painters 
used  to  be  very  fond  of  painting  this  beautiful 


26       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

scene — the  Adoration  of  the  Magi ;  and  the 
three  kings  are  always  represented  as  of  three 
different  ages — one  old,  one  middle-aged,  and 
one  young. 

But  we  must  go  back  to  the  story  of  Marco 
Polo's  own  life. 

Nearly  twenty-five  years  went  by,  and  about 
1295  the  three  Poli  returned  to  Venice.  At 
first  their  relations  did  not  recognise  the 
three  strange-looking  men  in  Tartar  dress, 
who  had  almost  forgotten  how  to  speak 
Venetian  properly.  Then  Niccolo,  Maffeo, 
and  Marco  invited  all  their  family  to  a  grand 
banquet.  When  every  one  had  sat  down  to 
table,  the  three  appeared  in  flowing  robes  of 
crimson  satin.  After  this,  they  went  away 
again,  and  reappeared  in  still  grander  robes 
of  crimson  damask,  while  the  satin  ones  were 
cut  up  and  given  to  the  servants.  Then  the 
damask  robes  were  changed  for  velvet  ones, 
and  at  last  the  hosts  appeared  in  ordinary 
dress,  the  damask  and  velvet  robes  being 
given  away  like  the  satin  ones.  After  all  this, 
the  guests  were  more  and  more  astonished 
when  Marco  Polo  brought  the  old  Tartar 
coats  which  he  and  his  father  and  uncle  had 
been  wearing,  cut  them  open,  and  showered 
down  on  the  table  a  heap  of  gorgeous  jewels 
and  precious  stones. 

Marco  Polo,  by  reason  of  all  his  wonderful 


ATTILA   AND   VENICE  27 

travels  and  immense  wealth,  became  a  very 
important  person  in  Venice.  He  got  the  nick- 
name of  "  Messer  Marco  Milione,"  or,  as  we 
might  say  in  English,  "  Master  Mark  Million," 
because  of  his  marvellous  tales  of  the  million 
cities  he  had  visited,  and  the  millions  of 
jewels  and  treasure  he  had  seen  during  his 
wanderings  in  distant  Asia. 

Not  long  after  Marco  Polo  came  home, 
Venice  had  a  terrible  war  with  Genoa,  in  which 
the  Venetians  were  defeated.  Marco  Polo 
commanded  one  of  the  galleys,  and  was  taken 
prisoner  in  the  great  sea-fight  off  the  island  of 
Curzola. 

It  is  said  that  during  his  year  of  imprison- 
ment at  Genoa  he  used  to  cheer  his  fellow- 
prisoners  by  his  stories  of  adventure  in  far-off 
lands. 

You  may  still  see  Marco's  house  in  Venice, 
with  the  beautiful  carved  cross  over  the  door- 
way. Marco  Polo  died  about  the  year  1325, 
when  Edward  11.  was  reigning  here  in  England. 

Although  her  trade  was  so  enormous  and 
important,  Venice  was  not  a  great  manufac- 
turing city  herself.  Her  chief  export  was  salt, 
and  this  was  one  of  the  great  sources  of  her 
wealth,  because  so  many  people  were  depend- 
ent upon  Venice  for  this  necessity  of  life.  The 
other  industries  were,  first  of  all,  the  making  of 
the   celebrated   Venetian  glass,   which  is  still 


28       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

made  on  the  island  of  Murano,  as  it  was  in  old 
days.  There  were  also  manufactures  of  silk, 
of  cloth-of-gold  and  cloth-of-silver,  of  metal- 
work,  and  of  stamped  leather-work.  Lace 
was  also  made,  and  sent  to  other  countries  for 
sale. 

Another  great  work  was  that  of  the  Venetian 
printers  and  booksellers.  This  was  so  im- 
portant to  the  cause  of  learning  in  Europe  that 
we  must  say  a  little  about  the  most  famous 
of  Venetian  printers  and  publishers,  Aldus 
Manutius,  who  lived  and  worked  in  the 
fifteenth  and  early  sixteenth  centuries.  Aldus 
was  a  distinguished  student  and  man  of  letters 
who  settled  in  Venice  in  1490,  and  set  up  his 
celebrated  printing-press,  chiefly  for  the  purpose 
of  printing  all  the  Greek  classics,  but  also  be- 
cause he  wanted  students  to  be  able  to  get 
books  at  moderate  prices.  At  that  time,  of 
course,  they  were  very  expensive. 

The  Aldine  Press  quickly  became  famous 
throughout  all  Europe,  and  the  German  and 
Flemish  merchants  in  Venice  had  a  large  ex- 
port trade  in  books.  The  Aldine  Press  did  not 
publish  Greek  books  only,  but  also  Latin  and 
Italian  ones.  The  pretty  little  books  published 
by  Aldus  were  known  by  their  device  of  an 
anchor  and  a  dolphin,  and  the  type  used  for 
Latin  and  Italian  books  is  said  to  have  been 
copied    from    the    handwriting    of    the     poet 


ATTILA  AND  VENICE  29 

Petrarch,  and  to  have  been  made  by  the  well- 
known  artist  Francia.  Aldus  was  a  great  friend 
of  learned  men,  and  numbers  of  them  used  to 
meet  at  his  house  in  Venice  in  order  to  study 
and  edit  the  Greek  classics.  Among  these 
famous  students  was  the  celebrated  Dutch 
scholar  and  reformer,  Erasmus,  who,  you  will 
remember,  was  a  great  deal  in  England,  and 
was  a  friend  of  the  Lady  Margaret  Beaufort, 
mother  of  King  Henry  vn.  Lady  Margaret 
was  much  interested  in  the  invention  of  printing, 
and  our  English  printer,  Caxton,  used  to  print 
books  for  her.  No  doubt  she  knew  all  about 
Aldus,  as  he  was  famous  before  her  death. 

We  have  spoken  of  a  few  of  the  things  that 
made  the  power  and  fame  of  Venice,  and  it 
would  make  this  story  far  too  long  if  we 
were  to  try  to  describe  many  of  the  beautiful 
buildings  and  pictures  to  be  seen  there. 
We  most  of  us  know  from  our  early 
childhood  what  many  of  the  lovely  things 
in  Venice  are  like ;  for,  happily,  we  are  able 
to  see  pictures  of  nearly  all  of  them.  At  home 
and  at  school,  and  elsewhere,  we  often  find 
prints  and  photographs  of  famous  Venetian 
buildings  and  paintings,  and  even  of  the 
beautiful  Murano  glass.  We  feel  that  the 
great  palace  of  the  Doges,  with  its  splendid 
arcade  and  stately  courtyard,  and  those  two 
celebrated  columns  of  St.   Mark  and  St.  Theo- 


3o       STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN   HISTORY 

dore,  which  look  out  to  sea  from  the  Piazzetta, 
are  old  friends  of  ours.  The  Church  of  Santa 
Maria  della  Salute,  with  its  dome,  is  familiar 
to  our  eyes,  and  so,  indeed,  is  the  whole  Grand 
Canal,  with  its  gorgeous  palaces  and  graceful 
gondolas.  The  names  of  some  of  the  Venetian 
artists,  both  architects  and  painters,  are  among 
the  great  names  of  the  world.  Even  if  they 
cannot  go  to  Venice,  English  boys  and  girls 
have  only  to  go  to  our  own  National  Gallery 
in  order  to  see  pictures  by  Giovanni  and 
Gentile  Bellini,  by  Titian,  by  Tintoretto,  and 
by  Paolo  Veronese. 

One  building  only  we  must  mention  in  a  few 
last  words,  and  that  is  the  great  church 
dedicated  to  St.  Mark,  the  patron  saint  of 
Venice ;  for  in  St.  Mark's  Church  all  that  was 
best  and  most  glorious  in  Venice  seems  to 
speak  to  us. 

The  church  we  now  see  was  built  in  the 
eleventh  century,  on  the  model  of  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Apostles  at  Constantinople.  It 
stands  partly  on  the  site  of  a  still  older  Chapel 
of  St.  Mark,  built  in  the  ninth  century  to  receive 
the  body  of  the  Evangelist.  You  may  like  to 
hear  the  curious  old  story  which  is  told  about 
the  bringing  of  St.  Mark's  body  to  Venice. 

To  begin  with,  an  ancient  tradition  says  that 
when  St.  Mark  was  on  his  way  from  Alexandria 
to  preach  the  Faith  of  Christ  in  Aquileia  (you 


ATTILA  AND   VENICE  31 

remember  that  Aquileia  was  the  town  so  cruelly- 
destroyed  by  Attila),  his  boat  was  caught  in  a 
terrible  storm,  and  was  driven  on  to  one  of  the 
islands  close  to  Rialto.  As  St.  Mark  stepped 
on  shore,  he  was  met  by  an  angel,  who 
greeted  him  with  the  words  :  "  Pax  tibi,  Marce 
Evangelista  meus," — that  is,  Peace  be  to  thee, 
Mark  my  Evangelist.  The  angel  then  told 
St.  Mark  that  his  body  should  one  day  rest 
at  Rialto,  and  be  reverenced  there.  This 
prophecy  was  fulfilled  in  the  following  manner. 
In  the  ninth  century  some  Venetians  went  off 
to  trade  with  the  infidels  at  Alexandria,  where 
St.  Mark  was  martyred  and  buried.  Trading 
with  the  infidels  was  forbidden  by  the  Emperor's 
decree,  but  these  Venetian  sailors  had  disobeyed 
the  orders.  Now  some  of  the  Venetians  were 
very  valiant  and  daring  men,  and  they  made 
a  plan  to  get  hold  of  St.  Mark's  body,  and 
carry  it  off  in  their  ship  to  Venice.  They 
managed  to  go  by  night  to  the  tomb,  and  to 
take  out  the  body.  They  then  took  the  body 
of  another  man,  wrapped  it  in  St.  Mark's 
shroud,  and  placed  it  in  the  tomb,  which  they 
sealed  up  as  it  was  before.  After  this,  they 
put  the  body  of  St.  Mark  into  a  basket,  and 
hid  it  by  putting  cabbages  and  swine's  flesh 
on  the  top  of  it.  The  basket  was  carried  down 
to  the  ship,  and  slung  from  the  mast.  The 
story  goes  on  to  say  that  the  pagans  seem  to 


32       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

have  had  some  suspicion  of  what  was  going 
on,  for  people  came  down  and  searched  the 
ship.  But  when  they  saw  the  basket  with 
pork  in  it  hanging  from  the  mast,  they  fled, 
crying  Kanzie  !  Kanzie !  that  is,  Pork  !  Pork  ! 
Pork  was  unclean  to  them,  and  it  was  for  that 
reason  that  they  fled. 

After  a  perilous  voyage,  the  Venetian  sailors 
got  their  precious  cargo  back  to  Venice,  where 
they  were  welcomed  with  grand  and  solemn 
ceremonies,  and  forgiven  for  their  unlawful 
voyage  to  Alexandria.  We  must  suppose  that 
nobody  was  shocked  at  their  having  stolen  the 
body  of  St.  Mark,  who  now  became  the  patron- 
saint  of  the  Venetian  Republic  instead  of  St. 
Theodore.  This  story  is  represented  in  some 
of  the  mosaics  in  the  church  itself,  while  in 
one  of  the  chapels  you  may  see  mosaic  pictures 
of  St.  Mark's  journey  to  Aquileia,  the  storm, 
and  the  salutation  of  the  angel  as  he  landed 
near  Rialto.  After  the  present  church  of  St. 
Mark  was  built,  the  body  of  St.  Mark  rested 
in  a  great  tomb  in  the  crypt,  where  it  remained 
from  the  year  1094  to  181 1.  It  was  then 
moved  to  the  High  Altar,  beneath  which  it 
still  lies. 

The  main  part  of  the  present  church  is  built 
of  brick,  faced  with  beautiful  marbles  of  various 
kinds.  The  interior  is  decorated  with  most 
beautiful  mosaics  on  a  golden  ground  ;  some 


ATTILA  AND  VENICE  33 

of  them  old,  and  some  of  them  comparatively 
modern.  The  old  ones  are  far  the  finest. 
The  general  decoration  of  the  church  went 
on  for  a  long  time  after  the  actual  building 
was  done,  and  the  very  elaborate  carving  of 
the  galleries  and  pinnacles  outside  was  added 
only  in  the  fourteenth  century. 

As  you  have  read  earlier  in  this  chapter,  the 
four  great  bronze  horses  which  stand  below 
the  great  window  over  the  central  porch  were 
sent  from  Constantinople  by  Enrico  Dandolo 
in  1204,  at  the  time  of  the  Fourth  Crusade. 
The  horses  are  said  to  have  been  made  by 
the  famous  Greek  sculptor,  Lysippus,  and  to 
have  been  sent  from  Rome  to  Constantinople 
by  the  Emperor  Constantine. 

It  is  only  for  about  the  last  hundred  years 
that  St.  Mark's  has  been  the  Cathedral-church 
of  Venice.  Up  to  Napoleon's  time  St.  Marks 
was  really  the  Chapel  of  the  Doge,  but  in  1807 
it  was  made  the  Cathedral,  and  the  Patriarch 
has  his  throne  there. 

Close  to  the  church  there  stood  the  famous 
Campanile,  or  bell-tower,  first  founded  so  long 
ago  as  888,  and  finished  about  the  middle  of 
the  twelfth  century.  This  celebrated  tower, 
which  was  a  kind  of  landmark  in  Venice,  fell 
into  ruins  on  14th  July  1902,  probably  because 
of  the  sinking-  of  the  soil  on  which  it  was  built. 
Nothing,  of  course,  can  replace  such  a  building, 
3 


34       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

with  all  the  wonderful  memories  and  associa- 
tions that  cluster  round  it,  but  a  new  Campanile, 
as  like  to  the  old  one  as  it  could  possibly  be 
made,  has  been  set  up  on  the  old  foundations. 
Those  foundations  have  been  strengthened  by 
an  enormous  number  of  piles,  which  have  been 
driven  into  the  ground,  so  we  must  hope  that 
this  new  Campanile  will  stand  and  watch  over 
Venice  for  centuries  and  centuries,  just  as  the 
old  one  did. 

If  you  go  into  St.  Mark's  late  on  a  sunny 
spring  afternoon,  a  light  like  burning  gold 
seems  to  glow  on  the  walls,  as  they  are  covered 
with  splendid  marbles  and  gorgeous  mosaics. 
The  mosaic  pictures  set  forth  the  history  and 
doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith.  Behind  the 
altar  shines  the  great  reredos,  or  "  Pala  d'  Oro," 
with  its  jewels  and  enamel  pictures.  We  see 
how  the  Venetians  brought  all  that  was  most 
magnificent  to  adorn  their  church  ;  and  we  re- 
member that  every  newly  elected  Doge  came 
here  to  pray,  and  that  a  solemn  service  was 
held  here  before  the  people  went  out  to  war. 

St.  Mark's  is  still  the  heart  of  Venice,  rich  even 
yet  with  the  treasures  and  the  art  of  long  ages, 
and  hallowed  by  a  thousand  years  of  prayer. 

On  St.  Mark's  Day  the  Patriarch  comes  in 
grand  procession,  and  the  Venetians  crowd 
to  the  church  to  celebrate  the  festival  of  their 
patron  saint. 


ATTILA  AND  VENICE  35 

Every  one  there,  whether  Venetian  or 
foreigner,  would  probably  join  in  the  last 
prayer  of  one  of  the  greatest  sons  of  Venice, — 
his  dying  prayer  for  his  country, — "  Esto 
perpetua  !  "  (May  she  endure  for  ever  !).  This 
prayer,  indeed,  has  in  a  sense  been  answered ; 
for  Venice,  although  no  longer  a  sovereign 
state,  is  safer  than  ever  before  as  one  of  the 
chief  cities  of  United  Italy. 


II 


A  GREAT  KING:  THEODORIC  THE 
OSTROGOTH 

"  He  was  a  man,  take  him  for  all  in  all, 
We  shall  not  look  upon  his  like  again." 

Shakespeare,  Hamlet. 

In  this  chapter  we  are  going  to  read  the 
story  of  a  great  and  brave  king,  whose  name 
has  been  famous  for  many  hundreds  of  years. 
This  is  Theodoric,  King  of  the  Ostrogoths, 
who  ruled  in  Italy  from  a.d.  493  to  525. 
But  if  we  want  to  understand  properly  who 
Theodoric  was,  and  how  he  came  to  be  in 
Italy  at  all,  we  must  once  more  turn  our  minds 
to  what  had  been  going  on  during  the  fourth 
and  fifth  centuries,  not  only  in  Italy,  but  in 
the  Roman  Empire  generally. 

Now,  in  the  fourth  century,  the  Emperor 
Constantine  the  Great  had  done  two  very 
important  things. 

First,  and  most  important,  he  commanded 
that  Christianity  should,  for  the  future,  be 
the  religion  of  the  Roman  Empire.     Secondly, 

he   formed   a   new   capital,   a   kind  of  second 

36 


THEOUOKIC    THE    OSTROGOTH. 
(Statue  in  Franciscan  Church  at  Innsbruck.) 


THEODORIC  THE   OSTROGOTH  37 

Rome,  at  Byzantium.  This  capital  was  named 
after  the  Emperor,  and  was  usually  called,  as 
we  now  call  it,  Constantinople. 

Not  long  after  this,  the  Roman  Empire  was 
divided  into  an  Eastern  and  a  Western  part, 
and  there  were  two  emperors,  an  Emperor 
of  the  East  and  an  Emperor  of  the  West. 
The  Emperor  of  the  East  had  his  capital  at 
Byzantium  (or  Constantinople) ;  the  Emperor 
of  the  West  had  his  capital  at  Rome,  and  later 
on,  for  a  time,  at  Ravenna. 

For  many  years  before  this  time,  the  wild, 
fierce  nations  from  the  north  and  north-east 
of  Europe, — the  "barbarians,"  as  the  Romans 
called  them, — had  been  attacking  various  parts 
of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  the  Romans  were 
getting  less  and  less  able  to  resist  them. 

These  barbarians — the  Visigoths,  the  Vandals, 
the  Ostrogoths,  and  others — came  chiefly  from 
those  parts  of  Europe  which  we  call  Germany, 
Austria,  and  Hungary.  The  most  terrible 
barbarians  of  all,  however,  came  across  from 
Asia.  These  were  the  Huns,  and  you  have 
heard  something  about  them,  and  about  their 
king,  Attila,  in  the  first  chapter. 

In  this  chapter  we  have  to  think  only  of  the 
Goths,  and  more  especially  of  the  nation  who 
were  known  as  ^e  Ostrogoths. 

In  the  second  century  of  the  Christian  era 
the  Goths  were  living  in  the  great  wide  plains 


38       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN    HISTORY 

of  what  is  now  Southern  Russia.  They  were 
divided  into  two  nations :  the  Visigoths,  or 
Western  Goths,  and  the  Ostrogoths,  or  Eastern 
Goths.  The  Goths  were  what  we  call  a 
Teutonic  race — that  is,  the  race  to  which  the 
Germans,  Dutch,  the  Anglo-Saxons,  and  the 
Scandinavians  belong.  The  Goths  were  more 
like  the  ancient  Frisian  and  Saxon  tribes  than 
like  the  people  of  Central  Germany. 

At  the  time  we  are  speaking  of,  the  Goths, 
of  course,  were  heathens,  and  worshipped  Odin 
and  Thor,  like  our  own  forefathers.  But  as 
the  years  went  on,  they  gradually  became 
converted  to  Christianity,  and  the  man  who 
did  most  to  convert  them  was  their  famous 
Bishop,  Ulfilas,  who  is  remembered  throughout 
the  civilised  world  as  the  translator  of  the 
Bible  into  the  Gothic  tongue. 

Ulfilas,  the  "  Apostle  of  the  Goths,"  as  he 
has  been  called,  was  not  himself  of  Gothic 
descent.  He  belonged  to  a  Roman  family  of 
the  province  of  Cappadocia,  who  had  been 
carried  off  as  captives  by  the  Goths  long  before. 
He  was,  however,  a  Goth  by  birth,  as  he  had 
been  born  among  them  in  a  Gothic  land,  and 
had  been  brought  up  as  a  Goth.  He  is  sup- 
posed to  have  become  a  Christian  when  he 
was  a  young  man,  at  a  time  when  he  was  living 
at  Constantinople  as  a  hostage. 

In  341,  Ulfilas  was  made  Bishop  of  Gothia, 


THEODORIC  THE  OSTROGOTH  39 

and  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  missionary 
work  among  his  own  people,  trying  to  teach 
them  both  to  believe  and  to  behave  as 
Christians. 

It  was  Ulfilas  who  persuaded  the  Emperor 
Valens  to  let  the  Goths  settle  in  the  province 
of  Mcesia,  which  was  within  the  frontier  of  the 
Roman  Empire.  These  Visigoths  wanted  to 
escape  from  the  cruel  tyranny  of  the  Huns,  and 
thought  they  would  rather  submit  to  the 
Roman  Emperor  than  to  Tartar  savages. 
The  Emperor  consented  to  allow  the  Visigoths 
to  settle  in  Mcesia  partly  because  some  of 
them,  at  any  rate,  were  Christian.  A  certain 
number  of  these  Visigoths  had  been  converted 
to  Christianity  by  Ulfilas,  but  most  of  them 
were  still  heathen.  Very  strange  tales  are  told 
about  the  way  in  which  these  heathen  Goths 
brought  their  own  altars  and  their  own  priests 
with  them  into  this  Roman  province.  They 
would  not  explain  anything  about  their  re- 
ligious ceremonies,  and  they  even  disguised 
their  priests  as  Christian  bishops,  so  that  the 
Roman  inhabitants  actually  believed  them  to 
be  Christians.  But  once  they  got  across  the 
Danube  into  Mcesia,  they  left  off  their  pre- 
tences and  began  to  persecute  their  Christian 
fellow-countrymen. 

The  more  warlike  of  them  wandered  off,  and 
made    great    conquests    in    various    parts    of 


40       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN  HISTORY 

Europe,  as  we  shall  presently  see.  Bishop 
Ulfilas  meanwhile  remained  as  the  chief  pastor 
of  a  large  and  peaceful  colony  of  shepherds 
and  herdsmen,  who  dwelt  at  the  foot  of 
Mount  Haemus,  and  lived  a  simple,  pastoral 
life. 

For  these  people  Ulfilas  made,  first  of  all, 
an  alphabet ;  and  that  alone  was  a  most  im- 
portant work,  as  it  meant  giving  the  Goths  a 
written  language.  Into  that  language  Bishop 
Ulfilas  translated  the  Bible.  It  is  curious  to 
learn  that  he  left  out  the  Books  of  the  Kings, 
because  he  thought  that  all  those  warlike  stories 
were  not  good  for  the  Goths,  who  were  already 
quite  fierce  and  warlike  enough.  Some  frag- 
ments of  this  most  precious  work  by  Ulfilas 
still  remain.  The  most  celebrated  of  all  is 
the  copy  of  the  Gothic  Gospels  made,  it  is 
supposed,  in  the  sixth  century,  and  written 
in  silver  letters  on  purple  parchment.  This 
famous  manuscript  is  known  in  Latin  as  the 
"Codex  Argenteus"  or  Silver  Codex,  from  its 
being  written  in  silver.  This  great  treasure  is 
now  in  Sweden,  and  is  kept  in  the  Library  of 
the  University  of  Upsala.  This  book  is  of  the 
very  greatest  interest  and  value  :  first,  because 
it  is  the  translation  made  by  Bishop  Ulfilas 
for  his  Gothic  converts  in  those  far-off  days  ; 
secondly,  because  it  is  the  oldest  book  in  a 
Teutonic   language    that  the  world  possesses, 


THEODORIC  THE  OSTROGOTH  41 

and   may   therefore   be  counted  as    belonging 
to  all  of  us  Teutonic  peoples. 

We  must  go  back  for  a  few  moments  to  the 
Visigoths,  before  we  go  on  to  speak  of  the 
Ostrogoths. 

You  have  just  heard  that  in  the  time  of  the 
Emperor  Valens,  about  a.d.  376,  the  Visigoths 
had  been  allowed  to  settle  in  a  province  of  the 
Empire.  But,  as  might  have  been  expected, 
they  did  not  remain  quiet.  They  were  a 
martial  race,  restless,  and  splendid  fighters, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  they  took  up  arms 
against  the  Empire.  In  3J&  a  great  battle 
took  place  near  Adrianople,  where  the  Visigoths 
completely  defeated  a  large  Roman  army 
commanded  by  the  Emperor  himself.  The 
Emperor's  body  was  found  after  the  battle, 
in  a  hut  which  had  been  set  on  fire  by  the 
barbarians. 

Some  years  after  this,  the  great  Emperor 
Theodosius  received  the  Visigoths  into  the 
Roman  army  as  "  federates,"  but  even  this  did 
not  prevent  them  from  attacking  other  parts  of 
the  Empire  on  various  pretences. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century  the 
Visigoths,  under  their  famous  king,  Alaric, 
came  down  into  Italy,  besieged  Rome  no  less 
than  three  times,  and  finally  took  the  city  and 
sacked  it.  This  was  in  410.  This  capture  of 
Rome   itself   by    the    barbarians    was   a   very 


42       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

great  and  alarming  event  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  It  seemed  as  if  nothing  was  secure  if 
Rome  could  be  taken.  But  it  was  only  the 
beginning  of  the  end.  Rome  had  many  worse 
things  to  suffer.  Indeed,  it  was  barely  fifty 
years  afterwards  that  the  city  was  again  taken 
and  plundered,  this  time  by  the  Vandals,  under 
their  king,  Gaiseric. 

The  great  Visigothic  king,  Alaric,  died  soon 
after  the  sack  of  Rome,  and  you  will  read  one 
day  the  story  of  his  burial  by  his  faithful  Goths 
— how  they  turned  the  river  Busento,  and  laid 
him  to  rest  in  the  river-bed.  When  he  was 
once  buried,  the  river  was  turned  again  into 
its  natural  channel,  so  that  none  could  ever 
again  see  or  touch  the  dead  body  of  the 
warrior-kinof. 

After  the  death  of  Alaric  the  Visigoths 
turned  westward,  and  carved  out  kingdoms 
for  themselves  in  Spain  and  Southern  Gaul, 
where  they  made  great  conquests. 

In  a.d.  476  the  Roman  Empire  of  the 
West  came  to  an  end.  The  barbarian 
''federates"  in  the  Roman  armies  had  been 
getting  stronger  and  stronger  for  long  years 
past,  and  were  now  really  the  masters  of  the 
Empire.  The  last  Emperor,  the  young 
Romulus  Augustulus,  was  taken  prisoner  at 
Ravenna.  He  was  deposed,  but  seems  to  have 
been  very  kindly  treated,  and  was  allowed  to 


THEODORIC  THE   OSTROGOTH  43 

pass  the  rest  of  his  life  at  a  beautiful  place 
near  Naples. 

For  some  years  Italy  was  ruled  by  a  man 
of  barbarian  descent,  named  Odoacer,  or  more 
properly,  Odovakar,  or  Odovacar.  This  name 
is  more  usually  written  Odoacer,  but  we  will 
keep  to  the  older  form,  Odovacar. 

We  shall  hear  a  good  deal  more  about 
Odovacar  presently,  so  it  is  important  to  re- 
member his  name  and  to  realise  that  he  was 
the  ruler — we  might  perhaps  say  king — of  Italy 
from  the  year  476  to  489. 

Now  let  us  turn  our  thoughts  to  the  Ostro- 
goths, that  great  barbarian  nation  to  which 
Theodoric  belonged,  and  say  a  few  words 
about  their  history  before  Theodoric's  time. 

In  the  third  century  after  Christ,  the  Ostro- 
goths were  the  chief  people  living  in  the  great 
plains  between  the  Baltic  and  the  Black  Sea, 
the  part  of  Europe  we  now  call  Lithuania  and 
South  Russia.  About  the  middle  of  the  fourth 
century  the  Ostrogoths  were  ruled  by  a  brave 
chieftain,  or  king,  called  Hermanric.  An  old 
German  poem,  or  "  Saga,"  tells  us  about  him 
and  his  wars,  and  his  terrible  death.  Her- 
manric belonged  to  the  great  Amal  family, 
who  were  said  to  be  descended  from  the  gods, 
like  the  old  Greek  heroes.  He  still  worshipped 
the  old  gods  Odin  and  Thor,  like  our  own 
Saxon  and  Scandinavian  forefathers,  and  like 


44       STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN    HISTORY 

all  his  own  Gothic  ancestors.  When  Hermanric 
was  nearly  a  hundred  and  ten  years  old,  the 
Ostrogoths  were  attacked  by  the  Huns,  those 
fierce  and  savage  little  people  who  overran  a 
great  deal  of  Europe,  killing,  plundering,  and 
destroying  wherever  they  went.  The  Huns 
defeated  the  Ostrogoths,  and  Hermanric  is 
said  to  have  killed  himself,  so  that  he  might 
not  see  his  people  ruled  by  the  Huns.  The 
Ostrogoths  had  to  serve  and  obey  the  Huns 
for  many  years  after  this  ;  but  after  the  defeat 
of  the  cruel  Attila  and  his  Huns  at  the  famous 
battle  of  Chalons,  in  a.d.  451,  they  at  last 
got  free. 

At  the  time  of  this  great  battle  the  Ostro- 
goths were  governed  by  three  kings,  named 
Walamir,  Widemir,  and  Theudemir.  These 
three  brother-kings  belonged  to  the  ancient 
royal  family,  or  clan,  of  the  Amals. 

Theudemir  had  a  son,  a  strong,  handsome, 
fair- haired  boy,  called  Theodoric,  and  it  is 
about  him,  Theodoric  the  Amal,  as  he  was 
called,  that  we  are  going  to  speak  in  this 
story.  In  order  to  see  what  he  had  to  do  with 
Italy,  we  must  tell  a  little  more  of  the  history 
of  his  people.  Now,  when  Theodoric  was 
quite  a  little  boy,  the  Ostrogoths  were  living 
in  that  province  of  the  Roman  Empire  which 
was  called  Pannonia,  a  part  of  what  is  now 
Austria.     They  were  what  was   called  "fede- 


THEODORIC  THE   OSTROGOTH  45 

rates"  of  the  Eastern  Roman  Empire.  That 
is  to  say,  they  had  to  give  some  service  to  the 
Empire  in  return  for  holding  their  lands. 
The  Emperor  on  his  part,  used  to  send  them 
a  present  of  money  at  the  New  Year.  When 
Theodoric  was  about  six  or  seven  years  old, 
the  Goths  began  to  find  that  this  yearly  gift 
was  not  sent,  and  they  got  angry  about  it. 
They  sent  to  Constantinople  to  ask  why  the 
money  had  not  been  sent,  and  they  were  still 
more  angry  when  they  found  that  it  had  been 
given  to  another  Gothic  chieftain,  who  did 
not  belong  to  the  royal  Amal  family  at  all. 
So  the  Goths  flew  to  arms,  and  attacked  the 
province  of  Mcesia,  which  was  not  far  from 
Constantinople. 

The  Emperor  made  peace  with  them, 
promising  that  the  yearly  gifts  should  be 
punctually  paid  so  long  as  the  Goths  promised 
not  to  come  south  of  the  river  Danube.  They 
also  had  to  send  the  little  Theodoric  as  a 
hostage  to  Constantinople.  So  Theodoric, 
who  was  only  about  seven  years  old,  had  to 
leave  his  parents  and  his  home  in  his  own 
beautiful,  wild  country,  and  go  and  live  in  the 
Emperor's  palace  at  Constantinople.  He  was 
a  brave-hearted  boy,  but  we  can  all  think  how 
sad  and  home-sick  he  must  have  felt  in  that 
great  court,  with  its  crowd  of  officials  and 
grand,  stately  ceremonies.     But  the  time  was 


46       STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN   HISTORY 

not  wasted.  Theodoric  must  have  learnt  a 
great  deal  about  civilised  life  in  those  years  at 
the  Emperor's  court ;  and  besides  this,  he 
became  a  great  favourite  of  the  Emperor  Leo. 

In  471,  when  Theodoric  was  seventeen  or 
eighteen,  he  returned  once  more  to  his  own 
people,  and  soon  began  to  show  what  he  was 
made  of.  He  collected  10,000  men,  and  took 
them  off,  unknown  to  his  father,  and  attacked 
the  King  of  the  Sarmatians,  who  had  just  taken 
the  city  of  Singidunum,  or  Belgrade,  from 
Rome.  Theodoric  defeated  the  Sarmatians, 
and  took  Belgrade,  but  he  did  not  give  it  back 
to  Rome.  He  kept  it  in  his  own  power.  He 
and  his  warriors  went  home  with  great  re- 
joicing, and  Theodoric  received  the  title  of 
King.  But,  of  course,  he  was  at  present  King 
under  his  father  and  his  uncle. 

Soon  after  this,  in  the  year  473,  the  Goths 
again  began  to  quarrel  with  the  Roman 
Empire.  Some  of  them  attacked  Italy,  while 
others  attacked  Macedonia  and  Thessaly. 
Another  peace  was  made,  and  the  Romans, 
hoping  to  keep  the  Goths  from  overrunning 
their  whole  country,  allowed  them  to  settle  in 
certain  lands  and  cities  near  the  ^Egean  Sea. 
One  of  these  towns  was  Bercea,  where  St. 
Paul  preached,  as  we  all  remember.  King 
Theudemir  was  the  leader  of  this  invasion. 

In  474,  Theudemir   died,  and   his   son,  the 


THEODORIC  THE   OSTROGOTH  47 

valiant  young  Theodoric  (the  "  people-ruler," 
as  his  name  means),  became  sole  King  of  the 
Goths.  During  the  next  few  years  the  Goths 
seemed  to  have  moved  again  ;  and  this  time 
they  settled  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Black 
Sea,  in  the  country  which  the  Romans  called 
Scythia,  and  which  now  belongs  chiefly  to 
Russia.  The  Emperor  Leo  had  died,  and  the 
Emperor  Zeno  was  reigning  at  Constantinople. 

Now  that  Theodoric  had  become  King  of  the 
Ostrogoths,  he  felt  puzzled  to  know  what  he 
should  do.  He  was  anxious  to  find  some  good 
and  fertile  country  for  his  people  to  live  in, 
because  they  had  suffered  very  much  in  all 
their  wanderings  from  the  shores  of  the  Danube 
to  the  Balkan  Mountains.  He  also  wanted  to 
be  friends  with  the  Roman  Emperor,  but,  like 
the  true-born  king  that  he  was,  he  always  loved 
his  own  people  best,  and  wanted  to  do  all  he 
could  for  them.  At  first  the  Emperor  Zeno 
showed  much  favour  to  Theodoric  ;  he  gave  him 
high  dignities  at  the  court,  and  even  adopted 
him  as  his  son-in-arms.  Yet  Theodoric  went 
on  living  among  his  own  people,  and  not  at 
Constantinople,  as  might  have  been  expected. 

Unfortunately,  Theodoric  had  a  rival  and  an 
enemy,  an  Ostrogoth  of  the  same  name  as 
himself,  who  was  continually  plotting  and 
stirring  up  strife,  and  making  mischief  between 
King  Theodoric   and   the    Emperor.      In   this 


48        STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN    HISTORY 

way  our  Theodoric  had  many  restless  years,  at 
one  time  fighting  for  the  Emperor,  at  another 
time  against  him. 

These  fights  and  squabbles  are  too  long  and 
confusing  to  describe  in  a  short  story  like  this, 
but  one  very  important  thing  happened  in  the 
year  479. 

Various  disputes  and  wars  had  been  going 
on,  and  Theodoric  greatly  wanted  to  take  his 
people  and  to  settle  them  in  the  beautiful  pro- 
vince of  Epirus  Nova,  which  came  down  to  the 
Adriatic  Sea.  Accordingly,  he  and  his  army 
and  his  people  began  to  cross  the  mountains, 
and  came  down  to  the  town  which  is  now 
called  Durazzo,  and  which  is  on  the  coast  of 
the  present  Turkish  province  of  Albania. 

The  Emperor  reproached  Theodoric  for  in- 
vading Epirus,  and  Theodoric,  in  his  turn, 
reproached  the  Emperor  for  his  behaviour  to 
the  Goths.  Before  any  arrangement  or  agree- 
ment could  be  made  between  them,  the  Goths 
were  suddenly  attacked  by  the  Emperor's 
troops,  and  suffered  a  most  terrible  defeat  near 
Durazzo. 

For  some  years  after  this,  very  little  is  told 
about  Theodoric,  but  we  find  that  he  had  in 
no  way  lost  his  spirit  and  his  courage ;  for  in 
486  he  again  revolted  against  the  Emperor, 
who  had  offended  him,  and  in  487  he  got  up 
to  the  very  gates  of  Constantinople  itself.     He 


THEODORIC  THE   OSTROGOTH  49 

did  not  take  the  city,  however,  but  returned  to 
his  headquarters,  burning  towns  and  villages 
as  he  went.  At  last  these  endless  quarrels  and 
peace-makings  were  settled  by  the  Emperor 
making  a  kind  of  bargain  with  Theodoric,  and 
telling  him  that  he  and  his  people  might 
march  over  into  Italy  if  they  liked,  and  win 
the  western  kingdom  for  themselves,  if  they 
could  manage  to  overthrow  the  present  king, 
Odovacar.  Neither  the  Emperor  nor  the  Goths 
liked  Odovacar,  and  perhaps  the  Emperor 
thought  that  by  allowing  Theodoric  to  invade, 
and  possibly  to  conquer,  Italy,  he  would  get 
rid  both  of  him  and  of  Odovacar  also. 

However  that  may  have  been,  the  end  of 
it  was  that  Theodoric,  with  his  army  and  all 
his  people,  set  out  on  the  long,  terrible  march 
to  Italy. 

Think  what  it  must  have  meant  to  lead — 
not  just  an  army,  but  a  nation  of  at  least  200,000 
people  over  those  wild  mountain  passes,  and 
to  find .  food  for  them  all,  young  and  old, 
women  and  children,  as  well  as  for  the 
soldiers. 

The  Goths  endured  fearful  hardships,  and 
had  many  fights  and  skirmishes  by  the  way. 
Their  worst  fight  was  with  a  tribe  or  nation 
called  the  Gepidse,  who  refused  to  let  them 
pass  through  their  country.  The  two  armies 
faced  each  other  on  either  side  of  a  marshy 
4 


50       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

river,  and  everything  seemed  to  be  against  the 
Goths.  But  Theodoric,  calm  in  the  hour  of 
danger,  called  for  a  cup  of  wine,  so  that  he 
might  drink  to  the  good  fortune  of  his  brave 
Goths.  Then  he  shouted  to  his  soldiers  to 
follow  him  and  his  standard,  saying,  "The 
Gepids  shall  know  that  a  king  attacks  them  ; 
my  people  shall  know  that  Theodoric  saves 
them."  Theodoric  dashed  on,  leading  his  army 
over  some  more  solid  ground  that  he  perhaps 
had  spied  out.  The  Goths  were  completely 
victorious  ;  a  number  of  the  Gepids  were  slain, 
and  their  stores  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Goths. 

In  489,  Theodoric  and  his  host  crossed  the 
Julian  Alps,  near  the  north-east  corner  of  the 
Adriatic  Sea,  and  came  down  at  last,  after  all 
their  weary  wanderings,  on  to  the  plains  of 
Italy. 

But  their  heaviest  work  was  still  to  come. 
When  they  reached  the  place  where  the  river 
Frigidus  flows  into  the  river  Isonzo,  they 
found  Odovacar  and  his  army  standing  ready  to 
meet  them.  Odovacar  had  fortified  himself  in 
a  strong  place  on  the  river,  and  he  had  a 
large  army.  So  the  last  great  struggle  began. 
A  battle  was  fought  on  August  28th,  489,  and 
Theodoric  won  it.  Odovacar  fled  from  the 
river  Isonzo  to  the  river  Adige,  and  took 
refuge    in    the    beautiful     town    of    Verona. 


THEODORIC  THE   OSTROGOTH  51 

Theodoric  followed  him,  and  prepared  for 
another  desperate  fight.  As  he  was  putting 
on  his  armour  for  that  famous  battle  of 
Verona,  he  told  his  mother  and  sister  to  bring 
him  his  finest  robes,  those  which  they  had 
embroidered  for  him,  so  that  even  if  he  was 
slain  he  might  look  splendid  in  death. 

On  September  30th,  489,  a  great  battle  was 
fought  at  Verona,  and  Odovacar  was  utterly 
defeated.  He  fled  to  Ravenna,  while  Theo- 
doric went  on,  first  to  Milan,  and  then  to 
Pavia,  where  he  stayed  for  the  winter. 

The  next  year,  a.d.  490,  Odovacar  came  out 
from  Ravenna,  and  on  August  nth  another 
great  battle  was  fought  on  the  river  Adda,  a 
little  east  of  Milan.  Theodoric  was  victorious 
again,  and  Odovacar  once  more  fled  to  Ravenna, 
and  shut  himself  up  there. 

Then  Theodoric  laid  siege  to  Ravenna  itself, 
and  here  he  had  very  hard  work,  because 
Ravenna  must  have  been  a  very  difficult  place 
for  an  enemy  to  attack.  The  town  is  close  to 
what  was  once  the  old  Roman  harbour  of 
Classis,  where  the  Romans  had  their  ships-of- 
war,  and  there  were  streams  and  marshes  all 
round  it.  Thus  it  was  almost  impossible  for 
Theodoric  to  cut  Odovacar  off  from  the  sea, 
and  boats  were  therefore  able  to  come  up  with 
food  for  the  besieged  people.  However, 
Theodoric  and   his   soldiers  got   into   a   great 


52       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

pine-forest    near    Ravenna,    and    managed    to 
prevent  any  help  from  coming  by  land. 

The  siege  went  on  for  three  years,  until 
Theodoric  got  down  to  the  town  of  Rimini, 
which  is  right  on  the  Adriatic  Sea,  and  so  was 
able  to  prevent  ships  from  reaching  Ravenna. 
Meanwhile,  the  unhappy  people  at  Ravenna 
were  suffering  dreadful  tortures  of  hunger, 
and  had  been  obliged  to  feed  on  the  most 
horrible  things.  At  last  they  could  hold  out 
no  longer,  and  Odovacar  saw  that  he  would 
have  to  make  peace  somehow  with  Theodoric. 
Therefore,  in  February  493,  the  Archbishop 
of  Ravenna  acted  as  a  mediator  between  the 
two,  and  a  kind  of  arrangement  was  made, 
by  which  Odovacar  and  Theodoric  were  to 
govern  Italy  between  them.  In  March, 
Theodoric  entered  Ravenna  in  great  state,  and 
was  met  by  the  Archbishop  and  clergy,  who 
greeted  him  as  "the  new  King  from  the  East," 
and  begged  him  to  be  friendly  to  them,  and  to 
"receive  them  into  his  peace." 

Some  days  after  Theodoric's  entry  into  the 
town,  a  great  banquet  was  held,  to  which 
Odovacar  and  his  friends  were  invited.  A 
terrible  thing  happened.  Theodoric,  taking 
an  awful  revenge  for  the  treacherous  murder  of 
certain  of  his  friends,  commanded  some  of  his 
soldiers  to  slay  Odovacar.  They  hesitated, 
feeling  perhaps  that  it  was  an  evil  thing  to  kill 


THEODORIC  THE   OSTROGOTH  53 

a  guest  under  your  own  roof,  and  an  old  man, 
too.  Then  Theodoric  himself  strode  out  and 
smote  Odovacar  a  fearful  blow  with  his  sword, 
almost  cutting  him  in  two.  As  he  saw  what 
he  had  done  in  his  barbarian  fury,  Theodoric 
exclaimed  with  a  savage  laugh,  "  I  think  the 
weakling  had  never  a  bone  in  his  body  ! ' 

This  murder — for  it  can  be  called  nothing 
else — was  a  sad  stain  upon  Theodoric's  honour. 
He  had  promised  that  Odovacar's  life  should  be 
safe,  and  moreover  Odovacar  was  his  guest. 
Even  the  barbarians  knew  better  than  this,  for 
they  had  great  respect  for  plighted  word  and 
for  the  laws  of  hospitality. 

That  so  brave  and  really  noble  a  man  as 
Theodoric  could  have  done  such  a  cruel  and 
treacherous  deed  shows  us  what  a  long  time  it 
takes  to  teach  even  the  best  of  men  to  be 
civilised  and  Christian. 

Theodoric  now  began  his  wonderful  thirty- 
three  years'  reign  over  Italy,  Ravenna  being 
his  capital.  If  you  go  to  Ravenna  some  day, 
you  will  see  a  very  quiet  old  town,  but  a  town 
full  of  stirring  thoughts  and  memories.  You 
will  see  the  Chapel,  or  Mausoleum,  where  the 
Empress  Galla  Placidia,  with  her  husband,  the 
Emperor  Constantius  in.,  and  her  brother,  the 
Emperor  Honorius,  are  buried.  The  Chapel 
is  glorious  with  the  most  splendid  mosaics. 

You    will    see    the   great    Church    of    Sant' 


54       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN    HISTORY 

Apollinare  Nuovo,  built  by  Theodoric ;  you 
will  see  what  are  supposed  to  be  the  remains 
of  Theodoric's  palace.  You  will  see  Theo- 
doric's  tomb,  that  massive  round  building, 
roofed  with  one  single  enormous  block  of 
Istrian  stone,  and  said  to  have  been  erected 
by  Theodoric's  daughter,  Queen  Amalasuntha. 

You  will  see  the  lovely  Church  of  San  Vitale, 
built  during  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Justinian, 
who  is  represented  in  the  marvellous  mosaics 
on  its  walls.  Farther  away,  in  the  lonely 
meadows  of  Classis,  you  will  see  the  Church 
of  Sant'  Apollinare  in  Classe,  built  after 
Theodoric's  time.  You  will  walk  on  and  on, 
and  come  to  the  famous  pine-forest  where 
Theodoric  himself  must  have  walked,  where 
Dante  had  his  vision  of  the  earthly  Paradise, 
and  where  our  own  English  poet,  Byron,  used 
to  wander. 

Here,  too,  are  memories  of  the  War  of 
Italian  Independence  ;  for  it  was  in  a  peasant's 
hut  in  this  pine-forest  that  Garibaldi's  wife,  the 
brave  and  devoted  Anita,  died  in  1849. 

Garibaldi  had  been  helping  in  the  fight  for 
Rome,  and  when  the  Italians  were  defeated  he 
and  a  band  of  followers  went  northward,  hoping 
to  get  to  Venice.  The  few  men  who  were  still 
left  by  the  time  they  had  fought  their  way  to 
the  coast  put  to  sea  in  thirteen  fishing-boats, 
but  of  these  eight  were  taken  by  the  Austrians. 


THEODORIC   THE   OSTROGOTH  55 

Garibaldi  escaped  with  the  five  remaining  boats, 
and  landed  near  Ravenna.  Here,  in  Dante's 
beloved  "  forest,"  he  had  to  leave  all  that  was 
mortal  of  Anita. 

At  Ravenna,  indeed,  you  will  see  many 
things,  not  the  least  among  these  things  being 
the  tomb  of  one  of  the  greatest  poets  who  ever 
lived,  Dante  Alighieri,  who  died  in  exile  at 
Ravenna,  on  Holy  Cross  Day,  September  14th, 
1321. 

Theodoric  used  also  to  spend  a  good  deal  of 
time  at  the  towns  of  Verona  and  Pavia,  and  he 
built  a  palace  and  public  baths  at  both  these 
places.  It  was  to  Verona  that  Theodoric  used 
to  eo  when  the  German  tribes  orot  restless  and 
he  wanted  to  watch  them.  The  old  German 
minstrels  sang  of  him  as  "  Dietrich  von  Bern," 
or,  as  we  should  say,  Theodoric  of  Verona, 
probably  because  the  town  of  Verona  was 
better  known  to  the  barbarian  tribes  than 
Ravenna. 

But  to  go  back  more  specially  to  what 
Theodoric  did  during  his  reign.  Now,  al- 
though he  was  himself  a  Goth,  he  was  very 
just  to  all  his  subjects,  whether  they  were 
Goths  or  Romans.  He  would  not  allow 
people  to  be  persecuted  for  their  religious 
opinions.  He  was  not  only  a  brave  soldier 
and  a  splendid  leader,  but  he  was  also  a  wise 
and  able  ruler  and  lawgiver,  with  a  very  strong 


56       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

will,  too.  Theodoric  never  got  to  be  much  of 
a  scholar,  and  could  not  write  his  own  name. 
Therefore  he  ordered  a  golden  plate  to  be 
made,  with  the  first  four  letters  of  his  name 
pierced  through  it,  and  then,  when  he  had  to 
sign  any  document,  he  could  trace  through  the 
holes  with  his  pen,  and  make  a  signature. 

Theodoric's  great  wish  was  to  set  up  a 
national  monarchy  in  Italy,  and  to  bring  out 
all  that  was  best  in  the  two  nations,  Goth  and 
Roman.  This  was  a  noble  ambition,  but  a 
hard  task,  because  the  two  races  were  quite 
different  in  their  laws,  customs,  and  character. 
It  was  not  easy  to  make  the  wild,  fierce  Goths 
respect  law  ;  nor  was  it  easy  to  revive  the  old 
heroic  spirit  of  the  Romans,  which  they  had  so 
sadly  lost.  Both  nations  had  much  to  learn 
from  each  other.  The  Goths,  for  instance, 
could  have  taught  the  Romans  their  ideas  of 
true  freedom  and  of  loyalty  to  the  King,  while 
the  Romans  could  have  taught  the  Goths  the 
meaning  of  civilisation.  It  turned  out  never- 
theless that,  in  spite  of  all  these  difficulties, 
Theodoric's  reign  was  a  time  of  peace,  pros- 
perity, and  freedom  from  foreign  invasion. 
Although  the  Goths  held  a  third  of  the  lands 
of  Italy,  and  lived  there  as  a  sort  of  armed 
aristocracy,  the  Romans  still  held  many  of  the 
chief  civil  offices,  and  were  Theodoric's  min- 
isters.    The  offices  of  state  were  still  called  by 


THEODORIC  THE   OSTROGOTH  57 

their  old  Roman  names,  such  as  we  read  in  our 
Roman  history — Prefect,  Quaestor,  and  so  on. 

Theodoric's  most  famous  minister  was 
Cassiodorus,  a  Roman  of  noble  birth.  He  was 
a  very  learned  man,  as  well  as  being  a  states- 
man, and  we  are  told  that  he  was  really  the 
first  man  who  thought  of  making  monasteries 
places  of  learning.  He  wrote  a  celebrated 
history  of  the  Goths. 

Theodoric  gradually  became  very  powerful 
over  a  great  part  of  Europe,  for  he  and  his 
family  were  allied  by  marriage  to  the  kings 
of  the  Vandals,  Visigoths,  and  Burgundians, 
which  meant  that  Theodoric  had  great  influence 
in  Gaul.  He  himself  married  a  sister  of  Clovis, 
King  of  the  Franks, — the  same  Clovis  who 
was  converted  to  Christianity,  and  afterwards 
baptized  by  St.  Remi,  Bishop  of  Reims,  at 
Christmas-time  in  the  year  496. 

Theodoric's  actual  dominions  spread  far 
beyond  Italy.  He  ruled  over  parts  of  Southern 
France,  parts  of  Switzerland,  Tyrol,  and 
Bavaria,  and  over  a  great  part  of  what  is  now 
the  Austrian  Empire.  He  had  occasional 
quarrels  with  the  Emperor  at  Constantinople, 
but  no  one  any  longer  disputed  Theodoric's 
right  to  his  kingdom. 

In  the  year  500,  Theodoric  visited  Rome — a 
great  event  for  every  one  concerned.  He  first 
worshipped  in  the  old  Basilica  of  St.  Peter,  and 


58       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

then  was  greeted  by  the  Senators,  the  people, 
and  the  Pope,  who  all  came  out  to  welcome 
him.  Theodoric  made  his  visit  a  time  of 
rejoicing  ;  there  were  games  in  the  Circus,  and 
gifts  of  corn  to  the  poor  people.  He  stayed  in 
Rome  for  six  months,  and  it  was  very  likely  at 
this  time  that  he  ordered  some  very  useful 
works  to  be  begun,  such  as  the  draining  of  the 
Pontine  Marshes,  the  mending  of  the  Appian 
Way,  and  the  repair  of  the  walls  of  the  city. 
He  commanded  that  proper  care  should  be 
taken  of  the  great  aqueducts,  not  only  near 
Rome,  but  also  at  Verona  and  Ravenna. 

But  our  story  about  Theodoric  must  not  get 
too  long,  though  there  are  many  interesting 
things  to  be  told.  It  is  rather  sad  to  have  to 
say  that  the  end  of  his  reign  was  not  so  glad 
and  glorious  as  its  beginning.  For  instance, 
he  let  his  anger  get  the  better  of  him,  and 
began  to  persecute  people  who  differed  from 
him  in  religion.  This  was  a  sad  mistake,  for 
religious  persecution  is  both  stupid  and  wrong. 

Then  there  is  the  grievous  story  of  the  unjust 
executions  of  two  very  good  men,  Boethius 
and  Symmachus.  We  must  say  a  few  words 
about  Boethius  and  his  writings,  because  there 
is  a  special  reason  why  English  people  should 
like  to  know  about  him.  Boethius  belonged  to 
an  old  and  illustrious  Roman  family.  He  held 
various  high  offices  in  the  State,  and  was  for 


THEODORIC  THE   OSTROGOTH  59 

many  years  in  great  favour  with  Theodoric. 
What  he  cared  for  most,  however,  was  study, 
and  he  spent  long  hours  in  translating  the 
works  of  famous  Greek  writers.  He  knew 
about  many  things — music,  astronomy,  mathe- 
matics, poetry,  philosophy  —  besides  being  a 
statesman. 

Certain  bad  men  accused  Boethius  of  trying 
to  plot  a  revolution  and  of  writing  treasonable 
letters  to  the  Emperor  at  Constantinople.  Un- 
happily, Theodoric  believed  these  disgraceful 
accusations,  and  allowed  the  Senate  to  sentence 
Boethius  to  proscription  and  death.  Boethius 
was  imprisoned,  and  was  finally  put  to  death  by 
torture.  While  he  was  in  prison  he  wrote  the 
book  which  has  made  his  name  famous,  The 
Consolations  of  Philosophy.  This  book  was 
translated  by  our  own  King  Alfred,  and  also 
by  our  first  great  English  poet,  Geoffrey 
Chaucer.  Sir  Thomas  More  was  comforted  by 
reading  the  Consolations  of  Philosophy  when  he 
was  imprisoned  by  Henry  viii.,  so  there  is  good 
cause  for  us  to  remember  the  name  of  Boethius. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Boethius,  his  father- 
in-law,  the  Senator  Symmachus,  was  also 
executed  by  order  of  Theodoric.  This  was 
probably  done  for  fear  that  Symmachus  might 
try  to  stir  up  a  revolution  in  order  to  avenge 
his  son-in-law's  death. 

Theodoric  fell  ill  not  long  after  this,  and  is 


- 


-v       STORIZS    PROM   ITA1  HISTORY 

ssub  ::  h  =  ve  beer.  ha.:  rue  b  :  v  rerru.rse 
at  Ravenna,  in   525    ifter  only  a  short  illness. 
He  was  buried  in  the  famous  tomb  of  which 
we    read  just   now,    but   the   tomb   has 
e  for  centuries  past. 

N  ::     rr  ye  _rs    :  r  v  ::;"    :uri:us 

hirreueb.      I:  ir.  :;_"_   '-vj-.tr.   s:rr.e 

rr.eu  ~  tre  rr.  !;  :;  i  :';:•:  :^r  :.r  t:::  r ::  :hr 
: "r :  m  :h  e  M         "eum  or"  7  b  e    i   ric.    In  digging, 

:     were   ?  ;:  :.e::r  ir.    r:.:er         . :  ur. 

The  cuirass  was  of  gold,  and  also  the  helm- 
h  -■ rue  :e --  z .-.      ere  :e:  ir.  hue  herr.e:  £.nd  ir.  :r  e 
:   :he  5 ■'■'.::.'       U nf ortunately,  most  of  this 
pre::; us  irrr.  :::  v;l:      ::.er.  be:h re 
rr.eru   ever  hearb    ::"  :  :      :.- 

few  pieces  of  the  cuirass  were  got  back  again. 
These  are  in  the  Museum  at  Ravenna,  r-  r  e 
eerie  :hir.h  :he  sue!  .  r.  ia  rue  1 
-s  :hu  ::  1  :'  uuui;  ':;:  ::  seerr.s  uu  ;uu 
:e.v  :;  have  beer.  :ha:  ::  .he  rriuruv 
1  he:  b:ri:  hirr.sei: 

The:b:ri:    is    :ue    ::    a.vse  rr.er.   -vh:rr. 
sheuib  have  bear.v  iiueb  ::   see      ir  his  hs-bi:  s.s 
he  ii    eb      hub  :uis  raukes   i:  : 

cus  :ha:  :he  urea:  rr.esai:   bvure    ::'  hiu 
once    adorned  his  :e    has    .  :r.v 

irreareu         I  here  :    ~h:     =u 

solendid  golden  statue  of  Theodoric  on  horse- 
back, but  tha:  is  supposed  to  have  been  carried 
:a    ::    Aix-ia-  bhireiie    b       _  veure     svrb 


_   . 


THEODORIC  THE   OSTROGOTH  61 

was    still     there    three    hundred    years    after 
Theodoric's  death. 

Theodoric's  name  lived  on  in  after  years  in 
many  of  the  romantic  tales  and  poems  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  We  know  that  in  those  old  epic 
poems,  or  Sagas,  of  the  German  and  Scandina- 
vian peoples  he  is  called  Dietrich  of  Bern, 
Bern  being  their  name  for  Verona,  which  town 
Theodoric  conquered. 

The  stories  told  by  those  German  and 
Scandinavian  minstrels  were  chiefly  about 
fighting  and  about  wild  adventures.  Some  of 
them  you  will  find  in  a  very  delightful  English 
book  about  Theodoric.  One  little  story  we 
will  tell  again  here,  as  it  has  to  do  with  Theo- 
doric's death. 

It  is  said  that  when  he  grew  old,  Theodoric 
still  continued  to  be  a  great  hunter,  and  spent 
much  of  his  life  in  chasing  beasts  in  the  forests. 
One  day,  when  he  was  bathing  in  some  pool  in 
the  forest,  one  of  his  grooms  called  out  to  him 
that  a  very  fine  stag  had  just  rushed  through 
the  wood.  Theodoric  threw  a  cloak  round 
him  and  called  for  his  horse,  so  as  to  give 
chase  at  once.  While  he  was  waiting,  lo  and 
behold,  a  splendid  coal-black  steed  suddenly 
appeared !  Theodoric  sprang  on  to  its  back, 
and  the  great  horse  flew  off  with  him,  so 
swiftly  that  none  could  follow.  Theodoric 
found  that  this  was  no  ordinary  horse,  and  he 


62       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

vainly  tried  to  dismount.  He  called  out  to  his 
servant,  who  was  trying  to  follow  him,  "  This 
must  be  the  foul  fiend  on  which  I  ride.  Yet 
will  I  return,  if  God  wills  and  Holy  Mary." 

Theodoric  then  vanished,  and  has  never 
again  been  seen  ;  but  some  say  that  he  was 
saved,  because  in  that  last  awful  ride  he  called 
on  the  name  of  God  and  on  the  Virgin  Mary. 

On  the  porch  of  the  great  Church  of  San 
Zeno  at  Verona  there  is  a  carving  which  is 
supposed  to  represent  the  scene  described  in 
this  old  story.  Perhaps  you  will  one  day  see 
it  for  yourselves.  The  very  fact  that  Theodoric 
was  the  hero  of  so  many  of  these  poems  shows 
us  what  a  great  impression  he  made  on  the 
minds  of  the  people  of  his  day,  and  how  all 
those  Germanic  tribes  remembered  him. 

The  Saga  stories  are  not  at  all  like  the  real 
history  of  Theodoric,  but  they  are  interesting, 
both  in  themselves  and  in  what  they  tell  us 
about  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  people 
of  those  days. 

With  the  death  of  Theodoric,  the  sun  of  the 
Gothic  kingdom  began  to  set,  and  their  power 
gradually  waned.  Amalasuntha,  daughter  of 
Theodoric,  continued  to  reign  at  Ravenna  as 
regent  for  her  young  son,  Athalaric.  But 
Athalaric  died  when  he  was  only  eighteen,  and 
Amalasuntha  was  murdered  by  foul  treachery 
while  a  prisoner  on  a  little  island  on  the  Lake 


THEODORIC  THE   OSTROGOTH  63 

of  Bolsena,  in  535.  The  Gothic  kings  who 
reigned  afterwards, — Witiges,  the  brave  and 
splendid  young  Totila,  and  lastly,  Teias, — after 
many  famous  fights,  were  defeated  by  the 
celebrated  generals  of  the  Emperor  Justinian, 
Belisarius  and  Narses,  and  the  Goths  were 
driven  out  of  Italy  for  ever,  in  the  year  553. 

Thus  ended  one  of  the  great  stories  of 
Italian  history,  the  story  of  the  Ostrogoths, 
and  of  their  king,  Theodoric.  We,  who  now 
happily  see  the  kingdom  of  United  Italy,  may 
feel  that  Theodoric's  wish  has  come  true  at 
last,  and  that  it  has  come  true  in  a  better  way 
than  Theodoric  dreamed  of;  for  the  Italians 
have  a  king  of  their  own,  and  no  stranger. 
Still,  let  us  remember  Theodoric  and  his 
vision  of  a  United  Italy  in  those  far-off  days. 


Ill 

ST.  BENEDICT 

"The  wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  shall  be  glad 
for  them  ;  and  the  desert  shall  rejoice,  and  blossom  as  the 
rose." — ISA.  xxxv.  I. 

When  we  travel  about,  either  here  in  England 
or  in  other  countries  of  Europe,  we  often  see 
grand  and  beautiful  cathedrals,  abbeys,  and 
other  churches.  Some  of  these  are  still  stately 
and  perfect,  and  used  daily,  such  as  West- 
minster Abbey,  Gloucester  Cathedral,  and 
St.  Albans.  Others  are  in  ruins  ;  very  lovely 
and  very  interesting,  although  the  praises  of 
God  are  no  longer  sung  in  them.  Among 
these  ruined  churches  some  of  the  most  famous 
are  Glastonbury  Abbey  in  Somersetshire, 
Tintern  Abbey  on  the  banks  of  the  Wye, 
Battle  Abbey  near  Hastings,  Fountains  and 
Rievaulx  in  Yorkshire.  When  we  visit  these 
celebrated  churches,  or  see  them  from  afar  as 
we  pass  on  our  journeys,  do  we  ever  think  for 
a  moment  of  how  or  why  they  came  to  be 
there  at  all,  or  who  built  them  ?     If  we  asked 

that  question,  we  should  be  told  that  most  of 

64 


ST.   BENEDICT  65 

these  glorious  churches  belonged  to  Benedictine 
abbeys,  and  were  built  for  and  by  Benedictine 
monks. 

We  should  then  probably  have  to  ask  what 
we  mean  by  a  "  Benedictine  "  monk,  and  why 
those  monks  were  so  called. 

For  answers  to  these  questions,  we  shall 
have  to  go  far  away  to  Italy,  and  to  a  time 
very  long  ago.  We  shall  have  to  remember 
one  of  the  many  debts  which  Europe,  and 
indeed  the  whole  civilised  world,  owes  to  Italy. 

In  the  year  480,  four  years  after  the  Roman 
Empire  of  the  West  had  been  swept  away  by 
Odovacar,  the  great  man  we  now  know  as 
St.  Benedict  was  born  at  Norcia,  a  solitary  little 
town  in  the  Apennine  uplands.  Norcia,  "cold 
Nursia'  as  it  was  called,  is  not  far  from 
Spoleto,  which  is  an  important  town  about 
eighty  miles  from  Rome,  on  that  great  north 
road  which  is  named  the  Flaminian  Way, 
after  the  Consul  C.  Flaminius,  who  made  the 
road  in  the  year  220  B.C. 

While  Benedict  was  still  quite  young,  he 
was  sent  away  to  be  educated  in  Rome.  He 
became  very  much  grieved  and  horrified  at  all 
the  wickedness  he  saw  in  the  great  city,  and 
although  he  was  still  only  a  boy,  he  felt  that 
he  must  go  away,  and  escape  into  some 
solitary  place  far  from  the  evil  kind  of  life  he 
saw  all  around  him  in  Rome. 
5 


s-?-;;   e     :  '  ■.       7ai:a>»  h:.5T".it 


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ST.    BEV'ZDICT  67 

We  should  also  try  to  understand  that  some 
of  these   5:jries  mav  have  an  inner  meaning 
and  are  mean :  :     teach  .. ;  something. 

Bened:::  found  that  so  many  people  crowded 
to  see  him  after  hearinsr  of  this  miracle  th 
he  resolv  ed  0:    ?c  :o  a  much  wilder  and 

more  desolate  place  5 -.ill.     So  he  tied  secre: 
:".-  >m  even.'  one,  even  from  his  nurse,  and  went 
farther  ::z  .:...  the  mountains,  to  a  place  called 
Subiaco. 

Subiaco  is  forty-four  miles  from  Rome,  in  a 
beautiful  rocky   vallev  .7  wooded.     Long- 

years  before  St.  Benedict's  time,  the  Emperor 
!  "ero  had  a  villa,  or  country-house,  there,  and 
had  made  some  pretty  artificial  lakes,  which 
we  the  place  its  Roman  name  of  Sublaqueum, 
'under  the  lake."  This  name  has  been  turned 
in:       . :   I  Ealian  5     .  .aco. 

Al  Subii.::  Benedict  met  a  monk  named 
Roman -5  =nd  with  his  help  he  found  a  cave 
at  the  foot  of  a  hill, — rarj  iifEcult  to  get  at, — 
where  he  -zesst  three  years  almost  entirely 
alone,  in  prayer  and  fasting  and  meditation. 
His  only  food  was  brought  to  him  by  the 
rr. :  r.  •:  Romanus,  who  used  to  give  him  part 
of  his  own  scanty  portion.  After  a  time,  for 
somt  reason,  Romanus  ceased  to  bring 
Benedict  any  food.  It  is  possible  that  Romanus 
had  died.  Benedict,  meanwhile,  nearly  starved 
with  hunger. 


68       STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN    HISTORY 

We  hear,  however,  that  at  Easter-time  a 
certain  priest  who  lived  a  long  way  off  had  a 
vision  in  the  night.  In  this  vision  he  was  told 
by  our  Lord  that  a  certain  servant  of  His,  who 
lived  in  a  cavern  near  Subiaco,  was  tortured  by 
the  pangs  of  hunger. 

The  priest  had  been  preparing  an  Easter 
meal  for  himself,  after  the  Lenten  fast,  so  he 
arose  at  once,  took  his  food  with  him,  and  set 
off  for  Subiaco  on  that  early  Easter  morning. 
At  last  he  found  Benedict,  and  after  they  had 
prayed  and  talked  together  for  a  time,  the 
priest  begged  Benedict  to  share  his  food  and  to 
eat,  as  it  was  Easter  Day.  Thus  Benedict 
broke  his  long  fast,  and  he  and  the  priest  ate 
and  drank  together. 

After  this  visit  of  the  priest,  Benedict's 
hiding-place  became  known,  and  some  of  the 
mountain  shepherds,  when  they  first  saw  him 
in  his  dress  of  sheepskin,  thought  he  must  be  a 
wild  beast.  But  when  they  drew  near,  and 
Benedict  spoke  to  them,  his  gentleness  and  his 
beautiful  words  so  won  their  hearts  that  they 
soon  became  Christians. 

It  is  said  that  during  his  strange,  lonely  life 
in  the  cave  Benedict  had  to  struggle  with 
many  temptations  to  evil  thoughts  and  deeds, 
which  he  manfully  resisted  and  overcame.  One 
story  tells  how  that  once  when  some  great 
temptation  came  to  him,  he  conquered  the  bad 


ST.   BENEDICT  69 

thoughts  by  rolling  in  some  prickly  briers, 
which  tore  his  flesh.  The  old  story  says  that 
the  thorns  turned  to  roses,  but  the  roses  which 
now  grow  in  the  convent  garden  at  Subiaco 
are  said  to  have  been  planted  there  by  St. 
Francis,  in  memory  of  St.  Benedict,  and  are 
not  the  briers  of  St.  Benedict's  own  day. 

Not  long  after  this  time,  the  monks  of  the 
convent  of  Vicovaro,  not  far  from  Subiaco, 
sent  to  beg  Benedict  to  be  their  abbot. 
Benedict  at  first  refused,  saying  that  he  knew 
the  monks  would  never  endure  his  strict  rule  ; 
but  at  length  he  yielded,  and  went  to  Vicovaro 
to  be  abbot.  However,  Benedict  proved  to 
have  been  quite  right  in  what  he  said.  The 
monks  got  to  hate  his  strictness,  and  at  last 
they  even  tried  to  poison  him  in  a  cup  of  wine. 
When  the  poisoned  cup  was  offered  to  him, 
Benedict,  as  his  custom  was,  made  the  sign  of 
the  cross  over  it.  The  cup  at  once  broke  in 
pieces,  and  the  wine  was  spilt.  Benedict  in- 
stantly understood  what  the  monks  had  done, 
and  he  rose  and  spoke  to  them,  saying  quite 
calmly,  "Almighty  God  pity  you,  my  brethren. 
Why  have  ye  designed  this  wickedness  against 
me  ?  Said  I  not  unto  you  that  my  ways  and 
yours  could  never  agree  ?  Go  and  seek  an 
abbot  after  your  own  heart,  for  me  ye  shall  see 
here  no  more." 

Thus  Benedict  left  Vicovaro,  and  went  back 


70       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

to  his  beautiful,  wild  Subiaco.  During  the 
twenty  years  that  followed,  numbers  of  people 
flocked  to  him  to  be  taught,  and  as  many 
as  twelve  monasteries  were  established  near 
Subiaco.  Benedict  himself  lived  in  a  small 
house  above  the  cavern  where  he  had  spent 
such  a  long  time.  On  that  spot  there  now 
stands  the  wonderful  convent  of  the  Sacro 
Speco,  or  "  Holy  Cave."  That  monastery  is 
so  strange  and  so  beautiful  that  we  must  say 
something  specially  about  it. 

In  order  to  reach  the  monastery,  people  have 
to  walk  some  way  from  the  little  town  of 
Subiaco  itself.  A  wide,  shady  road  climbs 
gently  round  the  valley,  and  then,  at  a  turn  in 
this  high  road,  a  steep — very  steep — path  leads 
right  up  the  rocky  ridge  of  the  hill,  on  which 
two  monasteries  are  built.  The  first  of  these 
is  called  Santa  Scholastica,  after  the  sister  of 
St.  Benedict.  The  first  books  printed  in  Italy 
were  printed  at  this  monastery,  just  as  the 
first  books  printed  in  England  were  printed 
by  Caxton  under  the  shadow  of  the  Bene- 
dictine Abbey  of  Westminster. 

From  Santa  Scholastica  the  path  climbs 
on  and  on,  getting  very  rough  near  the  top. 
Down  below  is  the  deep,  narrow  gorge  of  the 
river  Anio,  and  the  steep  hillsides  are  covered 
with  thick  and  beautiful  forest,  through  which 
the  rocks  peep  here  and  there.     At  last  the 


Photo]  [Brogi. 

THE    "  SCALA    SANTA"    IN    THE    MONASTERY    OF    THE    "SACRO    SPECO " 

AT   SUBIACO. 


ST.   BENEDICT  71 

path  ends  at  a  stone  gateway,  leading  into  an 
avenue  of  pines,  and  the  avenue  ends  at  the 
famous  monastery  of  the  Sacro  Speco.  At 
the  entrance  there  is  the  following  inscription  : 
11  Here  is  the  cradle  of  the  Order  of  St. 
Benedict,  Patriarch  of  the  Monks  of  the  West." 

The  church,  or  rather  churches,  and  the 
monastic  buildings  are  so  built  into  the  steep, 
rocky  mountain-side  that  it  is  hardly  possible 
to  tell  where  one  ends  and  the  other  begins. 
The  buildings  literally  cling  to  the  rock,  and 
overhang  the  precipice.  From  the  terrace  and 
the  garden  where  St.  Francis's  roses  grow, 
there  is  a  most  lovely  view,  and  the  very  air 
seems  full  of  the  memories  of  holy  lives.  The 
monks  are  most  kind,  and  take  great  trouble 
to  show  all  the  beautiful  and  interesting  things 
in  the  churches  and  convent.  There  are  really 
three  churches,  one  above  another,  and  in  one 
of  them  is  the  cave  where  Benedict  "  dwelt 
alone  with  himself,"  as  St.  Gregory  says. 

The  walls  of  the  various  chapels  and  stair- 
ways are  nearly  all  covered  with  beautiful 
frescoes,  and  some  of  these  pictures  represent 
well-known  stories  of  St.  Benedict's  life. 

One  picture  in  the  Middle  Church  tells  the 
story  of  Maurus  and  Placidus,  two  of  St. 
Benedict's  pupils.     The  story  is  as  follows  : — 

While  St.  Benedict  was  still  at  Subiaco,  the 
Roman  nobles  began    to  bring   their  sons  to 


72       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

him  to  be  educated.  About  the  year  523, 
two  boys,  named  Maurus  and  Placidus,  were 
brought  to  Subiaco  and  placed  under  Benedict's 
care. 

One  day,  when  the  little  Placidus  had  gone 
to  draw  water  from  the  lake,  he  fell  in,  and  was 
swept  far  away  by  the  swift  current.  Now, 
just  at  the  time,  St.  Benedict  was  praying  in 
his  cell,  and  suddenly  he  called  out,  "  Brother 
Maurus,  run !  That  child  has  fallen  into  the 
water,  and  is  being  carried  away  by  the  stream." 
Maurus  stayed  for  one  moment  to  receive  St. 
Benedict's  blessing,  then  rushed  off,  ran  across 
the  lake,  and  pulled  Placidus  out,  never 
noticing  that  he  had  walked  on  the  water.  He 
afterwards  trembled  with  fear  and  astonishment 
at  what  he  had  done,  and  came  and  told  St. 
Benedict,  who  said  that  he,  Maurus,  had  been 
able  to  do  this  wonderful  thing  as  a  reward  for 
his  instant  obedience.  But  Maurus  declared 
that  it  must  have  been  an  answer  to  the  prayer 
of  St.  Benedict,  while  Placidus  said  he  had 
seen  St.  Benedict's  cloak  hovering  over  him 
while  he  was  in  the  water.  St.  Maurus  after- 
wards became  the  great  teacher  of  the 
Benedictine  rule  in  France.  His  name  is 
familiar  to  us  all  in  the  surname  of  St.  Maur, 
or  Seymour,  just  as  we  constantly  hear  the 
name  Benedict  as  Bennet  or  Bennett. 

Another  picture,  one  of  those  in  the  Upper 


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ST.   BENEDICT  73 

Church,  represents  the  touching  story  of  the 
last  meal  of  St.  Benedict  and  his  sister,  St. 
Scholastica.  St.  Scholastica,  who  was  a  nun, 
seems  to  have  lived  in  a  cell  quite  near  St. 
Benedict,  first  at  Subiaco,  and  then  at  Monte 
Cassino,  of  which  we  shall  speak  presently. 
Once  a  year  Benedict  used  to  visit  her,  and 
one  day,  when  the  time  for  the  usual  visit  had 
come,  he  took  a  few  of  his  pupils  with  him,  and 
spent  the  day  with  his  sister.  The  brother  and 
sister  passed  their  time  chiefly  in  prayer  and 
praise  together.  When  the  evening  came,  and 
they  were  sitting  at  supper,  Scholastica  begged 
and  begged  that  her  brother  would  stay  on  ; 
but  Benedict  said  he  must  return  to  his  own 
cell.  Scholastica  clasped  her  hands  tightly 
together,  and  bowed  her  head  in  prayer. 
When  she  at  last  looked  up,  the  evening  sky, 
which  had  been  clear  and  bright,  grew  dark 
with  clouds,  and  so  fearful  a  storm  of  thunder, 
lightning,  and  rain  came  on  that  Benedict  and 
his  companions  could  not  possibly  leave  the 
cell.  Benedict  turned  to  his  sister,  exclaim- 
ing, "  What  is  this  that  thou  hast  done  ? ' 
Scholastica  answered  that  as  he  had  refused  to 
stay  with  her,  she  had  prayed  God  to  grant  her 
request.  Her  prayer  had  been  heard,  and  now 
Benedict  could  not  leave  her.  Benedict  was 
satisfied  that  this  was  a  Divine  answer  to 
prayer,  so  he  remained,  and  he  and  his  sister 


74       STORIES  FROM    ITALIAN   HISTORY 

spent   the    night    in    happy    talk    of    spiritual 
things. 

When  morning  came,  Benedict  went  back  to 
his  cell,  and  three  days  afterwards  he  had  a 
vision  of  a  white  dove  that  was  flying  heaven- 
wards. Then  he  knew  that  his  sister 
Scholastica  was  dead,  and  he  sent  some  of  his 
monks  to  bring  her  body  and  bury  it  in  the 
place  where  he  himself  was  also  to  be  buried. 

But  we  must  go  on  with  the  story  of  St. 
Benedict's  life  and  work. 

After  some  years,  he  began  to  find  that  he 
could  no  longer  have  as  much  peace  and  quiet- 
ness as  he  wished  at  Subiaco,  and  therefore 
he  left  the  monasteries  he  had  founded  and 
built  there  to  be  ruled  by  abbots  of  their  own, 
and  went  southwards,  to  a  part  of  Italy  about 
half-way  betwen  Rome  and  Naples.  Here,  on 
a  high  tableland,  on  a  spot  where  Apollo  used 
to  be  worshipped,  Benedict  built  two  chapels, 
one  dedicated  to  St.  Martin  and  the  other  to  St. 
John  ;  and  here  arose  what  afterwards  became 
the  greatest  and  most  important  monastery  of 
Western  Europe,  the  famous  monastery  of 
Monte  Cassino. 

St.  Benedict  came  to  Monte  Cassino  in  528, 
and  spent  the  last  fifteen  years  of  his  life  there. 
It  was  at  Monte  Cassino  that  his  famous  meet- 
ing with  the  last  Gothic  king,  Totila,  took 
place.      It    is    a    curious    story,    showing    St. 


ST.    BENEDICT  75 

Benedict's  power  of  knowing  hidden  things, 
and  how  he  could  tell  what  people  were 
thinking". 

Totila  had  heard  that  St.  Benedict  possessed 
the  spirit  of  prophecy,  and  sent  a  message  to 
say  that  he  was  coming  to  see  him.  But 
Totila  did  not  really  quite  believe  in  St.  Bene- 
dict's powers,  so  he  made  his  sword-bearer 
dress  up  in  the  royal  robes,  and  commanded 
him  to  go  to  Monte  Cassino  and  pretend  to  be 
the  king. 

The  sword-bearer  accordingly  went,  accom- 
panied by  three  nobles,  just  as  if  he  were  King 
Totila  himself.  They  entered  the  monastery, 
but  before  they  got  near  St.  Benedict,  he 
called  out  to  the  pretended  King,  "  Put  off,  my 
son,  put  off  that  which  thou  wearest.  It  is  not 
thine."  Then  the  sword-bearer  fell  to  the 
ground  in  terror,  and  he  and  his  companions 
all  hurried  back  to  their  King.  After  this,  Totila 
himself  came,  and  it  is  said  that  he  fell  prostrate 
at  the  feet  of  St.  Benedict,  who  raised  him  up 
and  spoke  to  him  very  solemnly.  He  rebuked 
him  for  his  cruelties,  and  foretold  his  wars,  his 
conquest  of  Rome,  his  nine  years'  reign,  and 
his  death.  It  is  said  that  the  words  of  St. 
Benedict  had  a  great  effect  upon  Totila,  and 
that  from  this  time  onwards  he  was  much  less 
cruel  in  war,  and  much  stricter  with  his  soldiers. 

The  great  monastery  at  Monte  Cassino  was 


76       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN    HISTORY 

destroyed  by  the  Lombards  in  either  589  or 
590,  and  the  monks  fled  for  safety  elsewhere. 
The  monastery  was  not  restored  until  130 
years  later,  when  it  was  rebuilt.  In  the 
eighth  century  a  very  famous  man  came  to 
Monte  Cassino  as  a  monk.  This  was  Carlo- 
man,  uncle  of  Charlemagne,  who  ruled  over 
the  eastern  part  of  the  Frankish  dominions, 
while  his  brother  Pippin  ruled  over  the  western. 
Carloman  is  said  to  have  been  stricken  with 
remorse  after  a  cruel  slaughter  of  the  rebellious 
Alamanni  at  Cannstadt,  and  in  747  he  ab- 
dicated, and  became  a  monk.  He  spent  some 
years  at  Monte  Cassino,  performing  the  hum- 
blest offices,  and  patiently  submitting  to  the 
discipline,  no  one  at  first  knowing  who  he  was. 
It  is  strange  to  think  of  this  Frankish  warrior- 
king  retiring  to  that  far-off  monastery  and 
seeking  for  peace  under  the  rule  of  St. 
Benedict. 

The  Order  of  St.  Benedict  spread  rapidly  all 
over  the  West.  Spain,  Gaul,  England,  and  at 
last  Germany  also,  became  filled  with  Bene- 
dictine monasteries.  For  centuries  the  Bene- 
dictine monks  were  the  civilisers  and  educators 
of  Europe,  and  their  great  army  all  looked  to 
Monte  Cassino  for  the  guidance  and  pattern  of 
their  life.  Thus  Monte  Cassino  came  to  be 
looked  upon  as  indeed  a  holy  place,  like  Rome 
or  Jerusalem.     All  Christians  thought  of  Monte 


ST.   BENEDICT  77 

Cassino  with  reverence  and  gratitude,  and  we 
may  very  well  do  so  too,  when  we  think  of 
what  most  people  in  Europe  owe  to  St.  Benedict 
and  his  monks. 

St.  Benedict  allowed  no  idleness.  His  monks 
had  to  divide  their  time  between  prayer,  study, 
and  labour  with  their  hands  ;  their  rule  of  life 
was  also  very  strict  as  to  food,  clothes,  and 
hours  of  rest.  Few  of  us  would  like  to  work  as 
hard  as  they  did.  The  monks  used  to  do  a 
great  deal  of  copying  and  transcribing.  They 
copied  missals,  books  on  religious  subjects,  as 
well  as  ancient  poems  and  histories,  and  in  this 
way  they  preserved  for  us  many  of  the  great 
deeds  and  thoughts  of  the  old  Greeks  and 
Romans.  They  also  taught,  not  only  the  arts 
and  sciences,  but  agriculture  and  handicrafts  in 
many  of  the  countries  of  Europe,  and  thus  did 
a  great  and  lasting  service  to  mankind. 

We  may  take  one  instance  alone — one  which 
ought  to  have  a  special  interest  for  us  English 
folk — and  that  is  the  great  work  done  for 
education  in  the  eighth  century  by  the  famous 
Alcuin,  the  friend,  adviser,  and  teacher  of  the 
mighty  Charlemagne  himself. 

Alcuin  was  a  Northumbrian,  and  belonged 
to  a  noble  Anglian  family.  He  was  sent  to  be 
educated  at  the  great  cloister-school  at  York, 
under  Archbishop  Egbert,  who  had  been  a 
pupil  of  the  Venerable  Bede. 


78       STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN   HISTORY 

The  name  of  the  Venerable  Bede  will  always 
be  remembered  by  English  people,  not  only 
because  he  wrote  a  very  interesting  Ecclesi- 
astical History,  but  chiefly  because  he  was  a 
most  learned  and  saintly  man.  Bede  was  a 
monk  in  the  Benedictine  monasteries  of  Wear- 
mouth  and  Jarrow,  monasteries  founded  in  the 
seventh  century  by  another  Northumbrian, 
whose  name  was  Benedict  Biscop.  This  reminds 
us  that  the  Benedictine  rule  was  first  brought 
to  England  by  St.  Augustine  of  Canterbury,  who 
was  himself  a  Benedictine  monk,  and  who  died 
not  many  years  before  Wearmouth  was 
founded. 

But  to  return  to  Alcuin.  We  can  see  that 
the  influence  of  the  Venerable  Bede's  life  and 
teaching  descended  upon  him,  and  bore  fruit  in 
the  work  he  did  for  the  vast  dominions  of 
Charlemagne.  Alcuin  was  the  head  of  the 
famous  Palatine  School,  which  was  the  centre 
of  the  great  revival  of  learning  in  Charlemagne's 
time. 

During  the  last  eight  years  of  his  life  he  was 
Abbot  of  St.  Martin's  at  Tours  ;  there  he  re- 
stored the  strictness  of  the  Benedictine  rule, 
and  founded  a  school  and  library  which  became 
celebrated  throughout  Europe.  Alcuin  died  at 
Tours  on  May  19th,  804,  and  was  buried  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Martin.  Because  of  what  he  did 
for  education,  he  may  be  counted  as  one  of  the 


ST.    BENEDICT  79 

men  who  did  most  good  in  Europe  during  the 
early  Middle  Ages,  and  his  work  helps  us  to 
understand  what  the  Benedictines  did  in  those 
far-off  days  for  the  civilisation  of  the  Western 
world. 

We  must  now  say  a  few  last  words  about 
St.  Benedict's  death,  which  happened  not  long 
after  the  death  of  his  sister,  Santa  Scholastica. 
St.  Benedict  had  had  a  very  wonderful  vision 
just  at  the  moment  of  the  death  of  one  of  his 
great  friends,  and  shortly  after  this  he  himself 
fell  ill.  Six  days  before  he  died,  he  ordered 
his  grave  to  be  made,  close  to  where  his  sister 
Scholastica  lay,  and  just  on  the  spot  where 
Benedict  had  overthrown  the  altar  of  Apollo 
when  he  first  came  to  Monte  Cassino  fifteen 
years  before.  We  are  told  that  St.  Benedict 
died  supported  in  the  arms  of  his  faithful 
disciples,  and  with  his  hands  upraised  in  prayer. 
This  was  on  March  21st,  543. 

His  death  was  mysteriously  announced  in  a 
vision  to  a  monk  who  was  in  his  cell  at  Monte 
Cassino,  and  also  to  his  beloved  pupil  St. 
Maurus,  who  was  then  at  Auxerre,  in  France. 

These  two  men  both  had  the  same  vision. 
They  beheld  a  pathway  of  brilliant  light  which 
stretched  eastward  from  St.  Benedict's  cell  into 
the  depths  of  heaven.  A  venerable  man  with 
a  radiant  countenance  seemed  to  stand  at  their 
side,  and   he   asked  if  they    knew  what   that 


8o       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

shining  pathway  was.  They  answered  that 
they  did  not  know,  and  then  he  said  to  them, 
"  This  is  the  path  by  which  Benedict,  beloved 
of  God,  hath  ascended  up  to  heaven." 

One  of  the  devices  used  by  the  Benedictines 
is  the  word  "  Pax,"  or  "  Peace,"  surrounded 
by  a  crown  of  thorns.  This  device  is  chosen 
by  the  English  Congregation  of  the  Order  of 
St.  Benedict  as  meaning  that  true  peace  is  only 
to  be  found  in  self-denial,  a  thought  which  is 
indeed  brought  home  to  us  when  we  think  how 
St.  Benedict  himself  lived.  Once  again  we 
may  remind  ourselves  of  the  great  work  St. 
Benedict  and  his  monks  did  in  and  for  a  world 
which  then  seemed  to  be  falling  into  ruins,  and 
in  which  learning  and  civilisation  were  in  danger 
of  being  trampled  out  under  the  feet  of  the 
barbarian  nations.  As  we  think  of  all  the  long 
centuries  of  patient  toil  with  head  and  hand, 
we  may  feel  that  Benedict's  name,  "the  blessed 
one,"  was  well  deserved,  and  we  may  say,  with 
his  devoted  disciple,  "  May  God  enable  us  to 
follow  our  master  along  this  heavenward 
way ! 


IV 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  IRON  CROWN 

"Accipe  Signum  Gloriae!" 

In  these  days  of  much  travelling,  many  of 
you  are  very  likely  to  cross  the  great  chain 
of  the  Alps,  and  to  come  down  to  Milan,  the 
chief  town  of  Lombardy,  and  now  the  most 
important  town  in  Northern  Italy. 

While  you  are  there,  you  will  perhaps  take 
the  short  journey  to  the  little  town  of  Monza, 
which  lies  about  eight  miles  to  the  north  of 
Milan,  and  there  you  will  go  to  the  Cathedral 
to  see  the  famous  Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy. 
This  present  chapter  has  to  do  with  the  Iron 
Crown  and  its  story.  That  story  will  help  to 
explain  why  and  how  that  grand  plain  in 
Northern  Italy  came  to  be  called  Lombardy. 

If  you  ask  for  the  crown  to  be  shown  to 
you,  a  priest  will  come,  and  will  solemnly  un- 
lock the  case  in  which  it  is  kept,  and  which 
stands  on  an  altar  in  one  of  the  chapels.  The 
candles  will  be  lighted,  incense  will  be  burned, 

and   prayer   will    be    said,    because    the    Iron 
6 


82       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Crown  is  looked  upon  as  a  sacred  thing.  You 
will  ask  why  this  is.  It  is  because  the  narrow 
iron  band  inside  the  crown,  and  from  which  it 
takes  its  name,  is  believed  to  be  made  out  of 
one  of  the  nails  used  at  the  Crucifixion,  and 
is  said  to  have  been  brought  from  Jerusalem 
by  the  Empress  Helena,  mother  of  the 
Emperor  Constantine  the  Great. 

It  is  thought  that  the  precious  ring  of  iron 
was  attached  to  a  crown  given  to  the  Emperor 
Constantine  by  his  mother,  and  worn  by  him 
on  his  helmet. 

The  crown  itself  is  of  gold.  It  is  small, 
being  only  six  inches  in  diameter,  and  about 
two  and  a  half  inches  high.  It  is  made  in  six 
plates  of  gold,  each  double,  and  joined  by 
hinges.  The  crown  is  adorned  by  twenty-six 
golden  roses,  twenty-two  jewels,  chiefly  pearls 
and  emeralds,  and  twenty-four  beautiful  enamels. 
Inside  the  crown  is  fastened  the  thin,  narrow 
ring  of  iron  from  which  it  takes  its  name. 
The  workmanship  of  the  crown  shows  that  it 
is  Byzantine  (that  is,  made  at  Constantinople, 
or  by  Byzantine  craftsmen),  and  therefore  there 
may  be  some  truth  in  the  old  tradition  which 
says  that  it  was  given  to  Constantine  the  Great 
by  his  mother,  Helena. 

Again  we  are  told  that  after  Constantine's 
death,  this  crown  was  placed  in  the  Church  of 
Santa    Sophia,    the    famous    church    built    at 


QUEEN   THEUDELINDA'S    HEX    AND    CHICKENS. 

(Cathedral  Treasury  at  Monza. > 


THE    IRON   CROWN    OF    LoMBARDY. 
(Monza  Cathedral.) 


THE  STORY  OF  THE   IRON   CROWN      83 

Constantinople  by  the  Emperor  Justinian. 
Here  it  remained  until  the  reign  of  the 
Emperor  Tiberius  (578-582),  at  which  time 
Gregory  the  Great  was  sent  as  Nuncio  to 
Constantinople  by  Pope  Pelagius  11.  The 
Emperor  had  a  great  regard  for  Gregory;  and 
when  Gregory  left  Constantinople,  Tiberius  is 
said  to  have  given  him  many  precious  relics 
to  take  back  to  Rome,  and  among  them  the 
crown  of  Constantine  containing  the  sacred  nail. 

Some  years  later,  when  Gregory  had  become 
Pope,  we  hear  that  he  sent  this  crown  to  the 
celebrated  Lombard  queen,  Theudelinda,  who, 
in  her  turn,  presented  it  to  the  church  which 
she  founded  at  Monza. 

It  is  always  difficult  to  disentangle  the  true 
from  the  false  in  these  old  stories  which  have 
been  handed  down  to  us  from  past  generations 
and  far-off  ages.  One  thing  is  certain,  namely, 
that  the  Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy,  like  our 
own  Stone  of  Scone,  has  been  an  object  of 
care  and  reverence  for  many  hundreds  of 
years,  and  we  may  be  sure  that  such  reverence 
is  never  foolish  and  unmeaning. 

When  you  look  at  this  crown,  you  must  try 
to  remember  the  many  celebrated  people  who 
have  been  crowned  with  it.  Tradition  says 
that  it  was  used  for  Charlemagne  ;  Otto  the 
Great  was  crowned  with  it,  also  the  Emperor 
Frederick    Barbarossa.      Nearer    to    our    own 


84        STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

time,  it  was  taken  with  great  pomp  to  Bologna 
for  the  coronation  of  the  Emperor  Charles  v. 
in  1530.  On  that  occasion  Charles  was 
crowned  both  Emperor  of  the  Romans  and 
King  of  Lombardy  by  Pope  Clement  vn.  You 
will  read  more  about  that  great  ceremony  in 
another  of  these  stories. 

Nearer  again  to  our  own  days,  the  Iron 
Crown  has  had  strange  adventures. 

In  the  year  1805,  when  Napoleon  1.  had 
conquered  a  large  part  of  Europe,  and  had 
become  Emperor  of  the  French,  the  Iron 
Crown  was  carried  with  great  pomp  from 
Monza  to  Milan,  and  on  May  25th,  1805, 
Napoleon  crowned  himself  with  the  Iron  Crown 
as  King  of  Italy. 

As  he  placed  the  crown  on  his  head, 
Napoleon  uttered  the  words  which  have 
become  famous  :  "  Dio  me  1'  ha  data,  guai  a 
chi  la  tocchera ! '  (God  has  given  it  to  me. 
Woe  to  him  who  shall  touch  it !). 

In  after  years,  when  Napoleon's  strange  and 
wonderful  empire  had  been  shattered,  and  he 
had  died,  a  prisoner  at  St.  Helena,  the  Iron 
Crown  was  used  for  the  coronation  of  two 
Austrian  Emperors  as  Kings  of  Lombardy. 
In  1859,  when  the  war  of  Italian  Independence 
was  at  its  height,  the  Austrians  took  the 
crown  away  to  Vienna  for  safety,  and  it  was 
brought  back  only  in  1866. 


THE   STORY  OF  THE   IRON   CROWN      85 

The  Iron  Crown  is  now,  happily,  used  for 
the  coronation  of  the  Kings  of  United  Italy, 
and  the  present  King  of  Italy  wore  it  when  he 
made  his  first  address  to  the  Italian  nation  in 
the  assembled  Parliament. 

But  now,  after  hearing  so  much  about  the 
Lombard  Crown,  you  will  naturally  ask  who 
these  Lombards  were,  where  they  came  from, 
and  why  they  were  in  Italy.  You  will  perhaps 
ask,  too,  how  they  got  the  name  "Lombard," 
a  name  borne  by  a  very  well-known  street 
in  the  city  of  London. 

The  earliest  stories  of  the  Lombards  tell  us 
that  they  dwelt  long  ago  on  the  shores  of  the 
river  Elbe,  in  the  parts  of  Germany  now  known 
as  Holstein,  Mecklenburg,  and  Hanover. 
Some  of  their  nearest  neighbours  were  our 
own  forefathers,  the  Angli. 

Most  people  agree  that  the  name  "  Lombard ' 
(or  Langobardi,  as    the  Romans  called  them) 
means  the  "  lonor-bearded  men."     But  another 

o 

idea  is  that  the  name  has  something  to  do  with 
the  long  axes,  or  halberds,  which  the  Lombards 
used,  or  perhaps  with  their  ancient  dwelling- 
place  on  the  long  shore  of  the  great  river 
Elbe. 

There  is  a  curious  old  story,  or  "  Saga," 
about  the  meaning  of  the  name  "  Lombard." 
This  is  told  for  us  in  English  in  a  very 
interesting  book  which  you  must  one  day  read 


86       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

for  yourselves.  It  is  as  follows  : — Long  ago, 
in  Scandinavia,  the  powerful  Vandals  wanted 
to  make  a  little  tribe,  called  the  Winnili,  pay- 
tribute  to  them.  The  Winnili  said  they  would 
make  ready  to  fight  the  Vandals  rather  than 
pay.  Some  of  the  Winnili  tribe  prayed  to 
their  god  Odin  to  give  them  victory  in  the 
battle,  and  he  answered  that  he  would  give 
the  victory  to  the  nation  whom  he  first  looked 
upon  at  sunrise.  Then  the  Winnili  prayed 
to  the  goddess  Freya,  the  wife  of  Odin,  and 
she  gave  them  the  following  advice  about  what 
they  were  to  do.  The  Winnili  were  all  to 
gather  together  before  Odin's  eastern  window, 
and  they  were  to  have  their  wives  with  them. 
The  women  were  to  let  their  hair  down,  and 
bring  it  all  round  their  faces  as  if  it  were  a 
beard.  The  Winnili  obeyed,  and  then,  when 
the  sun  was  just  rising,  Freya  awoke  Odin, 
and  told  him  to  look  out  of  his  eastern  window. 
He  looked  out,  and  saw  the  Winnili  waiting 
patiently  there.  Odin  asked,  "Who  are  these 
long-bearded  ones  ? "  and  Freya  answered, 
"  As  thou  hast  given  them  the  name  Lango- 
bardi,  so  give  them  the  victory."  Odin  gave 
them  the  victory,  and  from  that  day  the  Winnili 
were  called  the  Langobardi.  The  same  book 
tells  us  that  in  the  old  heathen  days  the  tribes 
who  lived  near  the  Langobardi,  and  probably 
the  Langobardi    themselves,  used   to    worship 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    IRON   CROWN      87 

a  goddess  whom  they  called  Hertha,  or  Mother 
Earth,  and  it  describes  one  of  their  religious 
rites. 

The  priest  of  Hertha  lived  on  a  lonely 
island  (perhaps  Heligoland  or  Rugen),  and 
guarded  the  image  and  chariot  of  the  goddess, 
which  were  kept  in  a  sacred  grove  of  trees. 
Once  a  year  the  priest  crossed  to  the  main- 
land, bringing  with  him  the  image  and  the 
chariot.  The  image  was  held  in  great  rever- 
ence ;  it  was  always  closely  veiled,  and  it  was 
death  to  behold  it. 

When  the  priest  had  landed,  the  image  of 
Hertha  was  placed  on  the  chariot.  The 
chariot  was  drawn  along  by  cows,  and  the 
procession  was  greeted  with  feastings  and 
rejoicings  wherever  it  passed. 

When  all  was  done,  the  image  and  the 
chariot  were  taken  back  to  the  little  island, 
and  there  a  very  cruel  ceremony  seems  to 
have  taken  place.  The  chariot,  the  image, 
and  the  robe  were  washed  in  a  sacred  lake  ; 
but  the  poor  slaves  who  had  washed  them 
were  afterwards  drowned,  for  no  one  might 
see  the  image  and  live.  Then  the  priest  once 
more  remained  alone  with  the  image  on  the 
wild,  solitary  island  of  the  ocean. 

Now,  like  all  the  barbarian  nations,  the 
Lombards  (as  we  shall  now  call  them)  looked 
longingly  southwards    and    sunwards,    towards 


88       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

brighter  and  more  fertile  countries.  Early  in 
the  sixth  century  after  Christ  we  find  that  they 
have  wandered  far  away  from  their  old  Scan- 
dinavian and  North  German  homes,  that  they 
have  reached  the  shores  of  the  river  Danube, 
and  that  they  are  living  in  the  wide  plains 
of  Hungary,  which  they  called  the  "Feld." 
Their  history  at  this  time  is  chiefly  about  wars 
with  other  barbarian  nations.  They  fought 
with  the  savage  Heruli,  and  defeated  them. 
Then  they  had  a  great  war  with  the  Gepidae, 
the  same  people  who,  more  than  seventy  years 
before,  had  refused  to  let  Theodoric  and  his 
Goths  pass  through  their  country  on  the  way 
to  Italy. 

When  the  feud  with  the  Gepidae  first  began, 
the  Lombards  were  ruled  by  a  king  called 
Audoin,  who  reigned  over  them  from  about 
546  to  565.  Both  the  Lombards  and  the 
Gepidae  appealed  to  the  Emperor  Justinian 
to  decide  between  them.  The  Emperor  had 
already  allowed  the  Lombards  to  cross  the 
Danube,  and  to  settle  in  the  countries  we 
now  call  Styria,  Salzburg,  and  Carinthia,  and 
now  he  decided  to  help  them  against  the 
Gepidae.  The  two  barbarian  nations  probably 
took  fright  at  the  idea  of  Roman  soldiers 
interfering  between  them,  as  they  always  had 
a  great  fear  of  really  civilised  races.  So  they 
patched    up    a   peace    which    lasted   for   about 


THE   STORY  OF   THE   IRON   CROWN      89 

two  years,  but  after  that  time  the  war  broke 
out  again  more  fiercely  than  ever.  The 
Lombards  were  victorious,  and  the  champion 
of  the  Gepidae,  Prince  Thorisind,  was  slain 
by  Alboin,  son  of  the  Lombard  king,  Audoin. 
Some  years  after  this,  the  two  nations  had  yet 
another  war.  King  Audoin  was  now  dead,  and 
had  been  succeeded  by  his  son,  the  fierce  and 
famous  Alboin,  who  led  his  people  to  battle. 

Alboin  slew  the  Gepid  king,  Cunimund,  in 
a  hand-to-hand  combat.  He  afterwards  cut 
off  Cunimund's  head,  and  made  a  drinking-cup 
out  of  his  skull.  It  is  said  that  this  cup  or 
goblet  was  adorned  with  costly  pearls,  and 
it  was  used  by  Alboin  at  solemn  festivals. 
This  savage  behaviour  seems  all  the  more 
dreadful  when  we  remember  that  Alboin's 
second  wife  was  the  beautiful  Rosamund, 
daughter  of  this  very  King  Cunimund,  whom 
he  had  slain.  We  shall  hear  more  about 
Rosamund  before  long.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
the  Lombards  were  looked  upon  as  a  specially 
ferocious  and  destructive  race.  They  were 
evidently  ruder  and  wilder  than  some  of  the 
other  barbarian  peoples  who  had  invaded  the 
Roman  Empire,  and  it  was  a  long  time  before 
they  became  really  civilised.  The  invading 
Lombards  were  mixed,  too,  with  other  races, 
such  as  the  Saxons  and  Sclaves.  At  the  time 
of  which  we  are  speaking,  the  Lombards  had 


go       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

become  Christians,  but  they  held  Christianity  in 
its  Arian  form,  as  the  Goths  had  done,  and  were 
not  Catholics.  At  first  they  used  to  persecute 
those  who  did  not  agree  with  them,  and  it 
was  many  years  before  they  became  Catholics. 
This  difference  of  religion  was  one  reason  why 
the  Lombards  seemed  rather  apart  from  other 
Western  nations,  and  their  fierce  persecution 
of  other  Christians  made  many  political  diffi- 
culties in  their  later  history. 

We  now  come  to  one  of  the  most  important 
things  in  all  the  Lombard  history. 

In  568  the  Lombards,  under  King  Alboin, 
invaded  Italy.  They  crossed  the  mountains  by 
much  the  same  road  as  the  Goths  had  done 
before  them,  and  came  down,  just  as  the  Goths 
had  done,  into  the  north-east  corner  of  Italy. 
They  marched  through  Venetia,  and  took  the 
towns  of  Vicenza  and  Verona.  The  next  year, 
Alboin  overran  Liguria,  that  part  of  Italy 
where  Genoa  is,  and  which  in  modern  days  we 
call  the  Italian  Riviera.  He  then  took  the 
town  of  Milan,  and  now  called  himself  "  Lord 
of  Italy." 

In  this  same  year,  569,  Alboin  laid  siege  to 
the  important  town  of  Pavia.  The  inhabitants 
made  a  desperate  resistance,  and  held  out  for 
three  years.  Alboin  was  so  enraged  at  their 
stubborn  defence  of  their  city,  that  he  vowed 
he  would  put  every  one  of  the  people  to  death 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   IRON   CROWN      91 

by  the  sword,  if  he  ever  got  into  the  town.  At 
last  the  citizens  were  obliged  to  surrender,  and 
a  curious  story  is  told  about  Alboin's  entry  into 
the  town.  As  he  was  riding  in  as  conqueror, 
his  horse  fell  under  him — just  in  the  gateway. 
Nothing  could  make  his  horse  get  up  again. 
Then  one  of  the  Lombard  soldiers  called  out 
to  Alboin  to  remember  how  he  had  made  a 
cruel  and  barbarous  vow  to  kill  all  the  people 
in  Pavia.  The  soldier  advised  the  King  to 
recall  that  vow,  and  told  him  that  then  he 
would  be  able  to  enter  the  city.  Alboin  took 
his  soldier's  advice,  and  unsaid  his  terrible  vow 
of  vengeance.  The  horse  immediately  arose, 
and  Alboin  rode  into  the  town,  where  he  took 
up  his  abode  in  the  palace  built  by  the  great 
King  Theodoric.  The  fine  town  of  Pavia, 
which  stands  on  the  banks  of  the  beautiful 
river  Ticino,  afterwards  became  the  Lombard 
capital.  It  is  interesting  for  English  people  to 
remember  that  Pavia  was  the  birthplace  of  the 
great  teacher,  Lanfranc,  who  was  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  in  the  reigns  of  William  the 
Conqueror  and  William  Rufus.  Lanfranc  had 
come  over  from  Lombardy  into  France,  and  then 
into  Normandy,  where  he  became  a  monk  in 
the  famous  monastery  of  Bee.  This  was  how 
he  got  to  be  a  trusted  friend  and  adviser  of  the 
Conqueror,  who  brought  him  over  to  England 
to  be  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 


92       STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN   HISTORY 

But  we  must  go  back  to  our  story. 

The  Lombards  quickly  conquered  the  greater 
part  of  Italy,  excepting  Rome  and  the  country 
round  it,  and  a  few  provinces  and  cities  on  the 
seacoast,  such  as  Ravenna,  Ancona,  Naples, 
and  others.  These,  and  some  few  other  cities 
in  Italy,  remained  "  Roman  "  ;  that  is,  they  still 
belonged  to  the  Empire.  A  great  plague  had 
been  raging  in  Italy  just  about  this  time,  and 
no  doubt  this  plague  made  it  easier  for  the 
Lombards  to  win  all  these  victories  over  the 
poor  stricken  people  of  Italy. 

Yet  in  spite  of  all  Alboin's  great  conquests, 
his  end  was  a  terrible  one.  You  remember  that 
Alboin  had  married  Rosamund,  the  daughter 
of  King  Cunimund,  whose  skull  he  had  made 
into  a  drinking- cup.  One  day,  when  the 
King  was  sitting  at  a  banquet  in  his  palace  at 
Verona,  he  called  for  his  dreadful  goblet  to  be 
brought  out.  Then  he  bade  the  cup-bearer 
carry  it  to  Queen  Rosamund,  and  invite  her 
to  drink.  The  Queen  obeyed,  with  vengeance 
in  her  heart,  though  for  the  time  she  hid 
her  terrible  plan.  But  afterwards  she  made 
a  plot  with  Alboin's  armour-bearer  and  the 
chamberlain,  and  it  was  arranged  that  they 
should  attack  the  King  and  kill  him  while  he 
slept. 

One  of  the  conspirators  fell  upon  him,  and 
then  Alboin  awakened  and   defended    himself 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   IRON   CROWN      93 

with  great  valour.  The  would-be  murderers 
had  tied  up  his  sword  so  tightly  in  its  sheath 
that  he  could  not  draw  it,  therefore  he  seized 
a  footstool  and  tried  to  use  that  as  a  weapon. 
But  at  last  he  was  overcome,  and  was  slain  by 
the  assassins.  One  of  these  wicked  men  after- 
wards married  Rosamund,  hoping  that  he 
himself  might  be  chosen  Kino-.  But  the 
Lombards  were  furious,  and  the  treacherous 
Rosamund  and  her  new  husband  had  to  fly  to 
Ravenna.  Rosamund  soon  wanted  to  get  rid 
of  this  second  husband  also,  and  tried  to  poison 
him.  He  drank  half  the  poisoned  cup,  and 
then,  realising  what  Rosamund  had  done,  he 
stood  over  her  with  a  drawn  sword  and  forced 
her  to  drink  the  rest.  So  these  two  guilty 
people  died  together,  after  having  shared  in 
the  murder  of  Alboin. 

But  we  must  turn  away  from  Rosamund  and 
her  barbarous  wickedness  to  a  very  different 
Lombard  queen,  and  to  a  better  time  in  the 
history  of  the  Lombard  nation. 

After  Alboin's  death  the  Lombards  chose 
another  king,  but  he  reigned  for  only  two 
years  ;  and  then  for  the  next  ten  years  no  king 
was  elected,  but  the  nation  was  governed 
during  that  time  by  the  great  nobles  known  as 
"the  Lombard  Dukes."  In  those  old  days 
"  Dux,"  or  Duke,  meant  the  man  who  led  a 
tribe  or  nation  forth  to  battle.     The  German 


94       STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN   HISTORY 

nations  called  a  Duke  "  Heretoga,"  and  they 
now  call  him  "  Herzog." 

Between  the  years  568  and  574  the  Lom- 
bards invaded  Gaul  no  less  than  five  times. 
They  crossed  the  mountains  and  attacked  the 
Burgundians,  who  in  their  turn  were  fighting 
with  the  Franks.  The  Lombards  were  de- 
feated by  a  brave  and  skilful  general  called 
Mummolus,  who  belonged  to  an  old  family  of 
Roman  Gaul. 

These  wars  between  the  Lombards  and 
Burgundians  remind  us  that,  long  years  after- 
wards, the  famous  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
St.  Anselm,  came  to  us  from  the  little  town  of 
Aosta,  which  stood  just  where  the  Lombard 
and  Burgundian  lands  touched  one  another,  and 
at  the  foot  of  those  Alpine  passes  which  the 
Lombards  crossed  on  the  expeditions  into  Gaul. 

Thus  St.  Anselm  and  his  great  friend,  Lan- 
franc,  help  to  form  a  link  between  England 
and  Lombardy,  which  seemed  so  far  apart  in 
those  old  days. 

After  a  time  the  Lombards  got  tired  ot 
being  governed  by  these  dukes,  and  in  the  year 
584  they  elected  another  king.  This  was 
Authari,  son  of  the  king  who  had  reigned  after 
Alboin. 

Authari  was  a  fine  and  splendid-looking 
young  man,  and  he  was  evidently  a  very  strong, 
good,  and  able  ruler.      He  married  the  beautiful 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   IRON   CROWN      95 

Bavarian  princess,  Theudelinda,  daughter  of 
Garibald,  Duke  of  the  Bavarians,  and  it  is 
chiefly  about  her  that  we  are  going  to  speak  in 
the  rest  of  this  chapter.  A  story  you  may  like 
to  hear  is  told  of  Authari's  wooing  of  Theude- 
linda.  Authari  had  heard  a  great  deal  about 
the  beauty  and  accomplishments  of  the  Princess 
Theudelinda,  and  he  wanted  to  see  her  for 
himself,  without  letting  her  know  who  he  was. 
Accordingly  he  set  out  for  the  Bavarian  Court, 
taking  with  him  just  a  few  followers,  one  of 
them  being  an  older  man,  who  had  to  pretend 
to  be  the  leader  and  head  of  the  party.  Duke 
Garibald  received  the  messengers,  and  the 
supposed  leader  spoke  some  courteous  words 
of  greeting.  Then  Authari  himself  came  up  to 
the  Duke,  and,  speaking  as  if  he  were  only  a 
servant  of  the  Lombard  king,  said  to  him, 
"My  master,  Authari,  has  sent  me  that  I  may 
behold  the  face  of  his  betrothed,  our  future 
mistress,  and  may  make  report  of  her  beauty  to 
my  lord."  Then  Garibald  ordered  Theudelinda 
to  come  near,  and  Authari  gazed  and  gazed  at 
her  in  silence.  Then  he  asked  that  he  and  his 
companions  might  receive  a  goblet  of  wine 
from  her  hand.  So  Theudelinda  brought  the 
goblet,  offering  it  first  to  the  older  man,  and 
then  to  Authari,  not  knowing,  of  course,  who 
he  was.  Authari  drank,  and  as  he  gave  back 
the     cup     he    somehow     contrived     to     take 


96       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Theudelinda's  hand,  and  to  kiss  it  secretly. 
The  Princess  was  a  little  disturbed,  and  when 
the  strangers  had  gone  she  told  her  old  nurse 
about  the  curious  way  the  young  Lombard 
had  behaved.  The  nurse  answered  that  the 
young  man  must  have  been  King  Authari 
himself,  as  no  one  else  would  have  dared  to 
do  such  a  thing.  The  Lombard  messengers, 
meanwhile,  went  their  way  home,  escorted  by 
some  of  the  Bavarian  nobles.  As  the  party 
reached  the  frontier  of  Italy,  Authari  rose  high 
in  his  saddle,  whirled  his  battle-axe  through 
the  air,  and  struck  it  deep  into  a  tree  trunk, 
shouting  out,  "So  Authari  is  wont  to  strike 
his  blow."  Then  the  Bavarians  found  out 
that  he  was  indeed  the  King. 

After  a  short  time  Theudelinda's  father  had 
a  war  with  Childebert,  King  of  the  Austrasian 
Franks,  and  it  ended  in  Duke  Garibald  being 
dethroned.  Theudelinda  and  her  young 
brother  fled  to  Italy,  and  met  Authari  on  the 
shores  of  the  Lake  of  Garda.  Authari  and 
Theudelinda  were  married,  with  great  rejoic- 
ings, at  Verona  on  May  15th,  589.  We  can 
imagine  how  beautiful  Verona  must  have 
looked  on  that  happy  day  in  May,  as  the 
people  kept  holiday  on  the  banks  of  the  green 
Adige,  with  the  trees  in  their  spring  dress 
and  the  shining,  snow-clad  Alps  beyond. 

It  is  sad  to   have    to  tell   of  the  death  of 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   IRON   CROWN      97 

King   Authari    in    the    very    next    year,    after 
this  happy  and  romantic  marriage. 

Authari  and  Theudelinda  had  no  children, 
and  after  Authari's  death  Theudelinda  married 
a  brave  Lombard  warrior,  Agilulf,  Duke  of 
Turin,  who  was  at  once  chosen  King  of  the 
Lombards. 

A  very  curious  story  is  told  about  this 
Duke  Agilulf.  At  the  time  of  Theudelinda's 
marriage  to  King  Authari,  while  the  rejoicings 
at  Verona  were  still  going  on,  there  was  a 
sudden  violent  storm,  and  a  tree  in  the  royal 
garden  was  struck  by  lightning.  Now,  Duke 
Agilulf  had  among  his  servants  a  boy  who 
was  able  to  foretell  things  that  were  going  to 
happen,  and  when  this  storm  came,  the  boy 
said  to  Agilulf,  (<  That  woman  who  has  just 
been  wedded  to  our  king  will  after  no  long 
time  be  thy  wife."  Agilulf  was  angry,  and  told 
the  boy  that  if  he  said  any  more  about  such 
a  thing  he  would  cut  off  his  head.  The  bov 
answered  that,  whether  he  was  killed  or  not, 
what  he  said  would  come  true,  as  it  was 
certain  that  Theudelinda  had  come  into  the 
land  to  be  Agilulf  s  wife.  Whatever  we  think 
of  this  story,  the  marriage  certainly  came 
to  pass. 

Agilulf  and  Theudelinda  reigned  for  a  long 
time  in  Italy,  and  Theudelinda  had  a  very 
great  and  good  influence  in  many  ways.     The 

7 


98       STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

chief  thing  she  did  was  to  bring  about  the 
conversion  of  the  Lombard  nation  to  Catholic 
Christianity.  Before  her  time,  as  we  know, 
they  had  been  Arians,  like  the  Goths,  and 
they  had  many  disputes  with  the  Catholics. 
King  Authari,  indeed,  had  forbidden  the 
Lombards  to  have  their  sons  baptized  at 
Easter  according  to  the  Catholic  rite ;  but 
Theudelinda,  who  was  a  Catholic,  very  soon 
made  her  influence  felt,  and  King  A^ilulf 
became  much  less  bitter  against  the  Catholics. 

Now,  in  this  important  work  Queen 
Theudelinda  was  very  much  helped  by  the 
famous  Pope,  St.  Gregory  the  Great,  who  was 
Pope  from  the  year  590  to  604.  All  English 
children  must  remember  the  celebrated  story 
of  his  seeing-  the  fair-haired  and  fair-skinned 
young  slaves  from  the  north  of  England  in  the 
Roman  Forum,  and  his  words,  "  Non  Angli  sed 
Angeli,"  and  his  resolve  to  send  missionaries  to 
England  to  convert  the  heathen  tribes,  Saxons 
and  Angles,  who  had  conquered  the  island 
and  settled  in  it. 

Pope  Gregory  had  great  influence  in  Italy, 
and  that  influence  was  sorely  needed  in  those 
wild  and  stormy  days.  Wars  were  constantly 
going  on  in  various  parts  of  Italy — sometimes 
among  the  Lombards  themselves,  and  some- 
times between  the  Lombards  and  the  Emperor 
— or  those  cities  and  provinces  of  Italy  which 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   IRON   CROWN      99 

still  formed  part  of  the  Roman  Empire,  such, 
for  instance,  as  Rome  itself. 

In  593  King  Agilulf  was  actually  advancing 
to  the  siege  of  Rome,  but  was  met  by  Pope 
Gregory,  who  besought  him  to  spare  the  city. 
It  ended  in  Agilulf  leaving  Rome  in  peace, 
and  he  gave  up  the  idea  of  besieging  it. 
Pope  Gregory  made  peace  with  King  Agilulf, 
and  it  was  through  his  efforts  and  influence 
that  the  Lombards  and  the  Emperor  became 
reconciled.  There  is  a  beautiful  letter  from 
Pope  Gregory  to  Queen  Theudelinda,  written 
in  598,  in  which  he  praises  her  for  all  she 
had  done  in  helping  to  make  peace  between 
the  various  states  of  Italy,  and  also  between 
the  Lombards  and  the  Emperor. 

But,  notwithstanding  all  this,  the  Lombards 
always  seemed  to  be  fighting  with  somebody 
or  other,  and  in  602  they  had  wars  in  Istria 
and  in  the  valley  of  the  river  Po.  They 
ravaged  Istria,  and  in  Italy  they  captured  the 
important  post  of  Monselice  (the  Mountain  of 
Flint),  not  far  from  Padua. 

The  next  year,  603,  was  one  of  great  rejoic- 
ing, for  Adelwald,  son  of  Agilulf  and  Theude- 
linda, was  born  at  Monza,  the  town  you  read 
about  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter.  Queen 
Theudelinda  had  built  a  palace  at  Monza,  and 
the  walls  of  this  palace  were  adorned  with 
paintings    representing    the    victories    of    the 


ioo      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Lombards.  These  paintings  would  have  been 
very  interesting  to  us,  because  in  them  the 
Lombards  appeared  in  their  own  curious  dress, 
which  an  old  historian  describes  as  being-  like 
that  of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  We  are  told  that 
this  is  the  first  time  that  the  name  "  Anglo- 
Saxon"  was  ever  used  in  literature.  It  seems 
that  the  Lombard  dress  was  a  loose  linen 
garment  with  coloured  border,  their  boots 
being  open  nearly  to  the  toes  and  laced 
across.  They  wore  their  hair  very  short 
indeed  at  the  back,  but  longer  in  front,  and 
parted  in  the  middle. 

In  this  new  palace,  then,  the  little  Prince 
Adelwald  was  born.  He  was  baptized  accord- 
ing to  the  rites  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and 
Theudelinda  wrote  to  Pope  Gregory  to  tell 
him  of  the  baptism  of  her  son.  The  Pope, 
although  very  ill  and  suffering,  wrote  to  thank 
her  for  her  letter,  sending  some  presents  for 
the  baby  prince  and  three  rings  to  the  Queen 
herself.  Pope  Gregory's  presents  to  the  little 
Adelwald  were  a  cross  containing  some  of  the 
wood  of  our  Lord's  Cross,  and  a  manuscript 
of  the  Holy  Gospel  in  an  embroidered  case. 
Shortly  after  this  Pope  Gregory  died  at 
Rome,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Peter's. 

A  few  years  later  on  Queen  Theudelinda 
found  another  friend  and  helper  in  the  famous 
Irish    saint,    Columbanus,    who    had    a    great 


I    ) 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   IRON:  .CltOWLf.  nos 

influence  over  the  Queen  and,  through  her,  on 
the  whole  religious  life  of  Italy. 

Columbanus,  or  Columban,  was  born  in 
Leinster  in  the  year  543,  the  year  St. 
Benedict  died.  He  studied  hard  and  became 
verv  learned,  and  after  he  left  his  home  he 
spent  some  years  in  the  monastery  of  Bangor, 
in  Ireland.  Here  he  went  on,  no  doubt,  with 
his  studies,  for  this  monastery  was  celebrated 
for  its  learning,  aud  we  must  remember  that 
Ireland  was  not  at  that  time  so  barbarous 
as  many  parts  of  Europe,  but  the  old  arts 
and  sciences  were  still  known  and  practised 
there. 

But  Columban  was  at  heart  a  missionary,  and 
he  finally  set  out,  with  twelve  companions,  to 
carry  Christ's  message  into  the  many  still 
heathen  parts  of  Europe.  Columban  and  his 
followers  came  over  to  England,  where  the 
Angles  and  Saxons  still  worshipped  the  old 
heathen  gods  ;  but  after  a  short  stay  in  England 
they  crossed  over  to  Gaul,  or,  as  we  should  now 
say,  France.  Here  they  taught  and  preached  for 
some  time,  until  the  King  of  Austrasia  sent  for 
Columban  and  begged  him  to  stay  in  his  king- 
dom. Columban  did  remain  for  some  years  in 
that  part  of  France,  and  founded  more  than  one 
monastery  in  the  country  in  and  near  the  Vosges 
Mountains.  He  was  greatly  revered  and 
beloved   by  the  people,    but    he    had   disputes 


ic2    :STORIKS  JF.ROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

with  the  clergy  of  Gaul,  who  did  not  like  his 
strict  ways. 

One  of  Columban's  followers,  Gallus,  founded 
the  famous  monastery  of  St.  Gall,  in  Switzer- 
land. But  we  cannot  stay  to  say  more  of  all 
St.  Columban's  labours  and  troubles  among  the 
Franks,  for  that  does  not  properly  belong  to 
this  story.  What  we  have  to  remember  is  that 
in  the  year  613  St.  Columban  crossed  over 
into  Italy,  where  he  was  received  with  great 
honour  by  Agilulf  and  Theudelinda.  Colum- 
ban stayed  for  a  short  time  at  Milan  ;  but  he 
did  not  care  for  the  life  in  a  city,  among  numbers 
of  people,  and  having  heard  of  a  little  village 
in  a  valley  of  the  Apennines,  he  retired  there, 
and  founded  what  afterwards  grew  into  the 
great  and  famous  monastery  of  Bobbio.  This 
monastery  became  celebrated  for  its  learning, 
and  its  library  contained  many  precious  books, 
some  of  which  are  preserved  in  the  great 
Ambrosian  library  at  Milan.  As  we  have  said, 
St.  Columban,  like  St.  Gregory,  had  a  great 
influence  over  Oueen  Theudelinda,  and  his 
work  in  Italy  helped  very  much  in  converting 
the  Lombards  to  the  Catholic  form  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

In  the  year  617  St.  Columban  died,  and  King 
Agilulf  died  also.  Our  story  about  part  of  the 
Lombard  history  must  begin  to  come  to  an  end, 
for  we  hear  very  little  more  of  Theudelinda  after 


THE  STORY  OF  THE   IRON   CROWN     ios 

she  became  a  widow.  Tradition  says  that 
Queen  Theudelinda  died  at  her  castle  near  the 
little  town  of  Varenna,  on  the  beautiful  lake  of 
Como.  She  used  to  spend  much  time  on  the 
shores  of  this  lake,  and  founded  several  churches 
in  the  villages  near.  She  also  made  a  road, 
still  called  the  "  Strada  Regina,"  or  Queen's 
Way,  near  her  castle  above  Varenna. 

When  Theudelinda  built  her  great  church  at 
Monza,  she  employed  a  certain  celebrated  band 
of  architects  and  masons  who  took  their  name 
from  the  town  or  province  of  Como,  and  who 
are  believed  to  have  been  the  great  builders  in 
Central  Europe  during  some  hundreds  of  years. 
They  were  known  as  the  Comacine  Masters. 

Whether  Oueen  Theudelinda  lived  her  last 
years  at  Varenna  or  not,  those  years  must  have 
been  full  of  much  anxiety  and  terrible  grief,  for 
her  son,  King  Adelwald,  was  dethroned  and 
poisoned,  and  she  did  not  survive  him  for  long. 
Theudelinda  died  in  628,  and  was  buried  at 
Monza,  in  the  Church  of  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
which  she  had  founded  in  595. 

The  present  cathedral  stands  on  the  site  of 
that  church,  and  in  one  of  the  chapels  you  may 
see  the  sarcophagus,  or  stone  coffin,  in  which 
Theudelinda  is  buried.  In  another  chapel  is 
the  Iron  Crown,  as  we  already  know.  In  the 
Treasury  you  will  see  Queen  Theudelinda's 
crown,   fan,    and    gold-handled    comb,    and    a 


1C4     :STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN    HISTORY 

splendid  book-cover  with  her  name  upon  it. 
There,  also,  is  preserved  a  very  curious  table- 
ornament  in  silver-gilt,  representing  a  hen  and 
chickens.  The  hen  and  chickens  are  supposed 
to  mean  Lornbardy  and  its  seven  provinces. 
The  ornament  was  probably  used  to  decorate 
the  table  when  Theudelinda  gave  a  banquet. 

Theudelinda's  crown  is  a  plain  circlet,  set  with 
a  quantity  of  gems,  chiefly  emeralds  and  pearls, 
and  from  it  there  hangs  a  cross,  set  with 
emeralds  and  pearls  like  the  crown. 

A  third  crown,  almost  as  interesting  as  the 
Iron  Crown  itself,  used  to  be  kept  in  this  same 
Treasury.  It  was  the  crown  of  the  brave 
Agilulf,  who,  as  you  will  remember,  was 
Theudelinda's  second  husband.  This  crown  of 
Agilulf  was  a  circle  of  gold,  adorned  with 
fifteen  arched  niches  formed  of  laurel-boughs 
worked  in  gold.  In  the  niches  were  figures  of 
our  Lord,  between  two  angels,  and  of  the  twelve 
Apostles.  Above  these  niches  was  set  a  circle 
of  jewels — emeralds,  carbuncles,  and  pearls. 
From  the  crown  there  hung  a  gold  cross,  with 
a  large  amethyst  in  the  middle.  This  precious 
and  beautiful  thing  was  taken  to  Paris,  in  1804, 
by  Napoleon  1.,  who  thought  that  it  was  the 
Iron  Crown  of  Lornbardy.  It  was  stolen,  alas ! 
from  the  "  Cabinet  des  Medailles,"  where  it  had 
been  placed ;  it  was  melted  down,  and  so 
entirely  lost. 


r-1      n- 


2; 


2 

c 

O 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   IRON   CROWN      105 

The  Lombard  monarchy  lasted  on  for  nearly 
a  century  and  a  half,  and  during  that  time  the 
two  greatest  kings  and  lawgivers  were  Rothari 
and  Liutprand. 

We  must  speak  of  one  very  interesting  thing 
that  happened  during  the  reign  of  King  Liut- 
prand, namely,  the  bringing  of  the  body  of 
St.  Augustine  to  the  city  of  Pavia. 

You  have  all  heard  of  the  great  St.  Augustine, 
who  was  Bishop  of  Hippo,  a  town  in  North 
Africa,  not  far  from  Carthage.  You  will 
remember  the  name  of  his  mother,  Monica, 
who  prayed  so  earnestly  for  his  conversion,  and 
whom  he  loved  so  dearly.  The  book  known 
as  The  Confessions  of  St.  Augustine  has  been 
a  treasure  to  Christian  people  throughout  all 
ages,  and  his  teaching  has  had  great  power  and 
influence  in  the  Church.  Thus  it  is  natural 
that  his  burial-place  should  be  of  interest  to  us 
all.  St.  Augustine  died  at  Hippo  in  the  year 
430,  while  the  town  was  being  besieged  by  the 
fierce  Vandals.  He  was  buried  at  Hippo,  in 
the  Church  of  St.  Stephen.  Soon  after  his 
death,  the  Vandals  entered  the  city  as  con- 
querors, and  many  of  the  chief  Christian  people 
were  banished  to  Sardinia.  About  the  year 
490  the  body  of  St.  Augustine  was  moved  to 
Sardinia  by  a  noble  Carthaginian,  and  was 
buried  in  a  church  at  Casfliari. 

At    the   beginning   of    the    eighth    century 


106      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Sardinia  was  overrun  by  the  Saracens,  and 
the  Christians  were  only  too  glad  when  the 
Lombard  king,  Liutprand,  proposed  to  take 
the  body  of  St.  Augustine  across  to  Italy,  and 
give  it  a  safe  resting-place  at  the  Lombard 
capital,  Pavia. 

King  Liutprand  paid  a  large  sum  of  money 
to  the  Saracens  in  order  to  be  allowed  to  move 
the  body,  and  in  710  it  was  brought  to  the 
Church  of  San  Pietro  in  Ciel  d'  Oro  at  Pavia. 

The  first  church  of  this  name  is  said  to  have 
been  built  by  King  Agilulf,  the  second  husband 
of  Queen  Theudelinda.  It  is  said  to  have  been 
rebuilt  by  King  Liutprand  in  the  usual  fashion 
of  a  Lombard  church,  and  a  beautiful  fashion 
that  is,  as  you  may  one  day  see  for  yourselves. 
The  "golden  roof"  which  gives  it  its  name 
was  probably  a  picture  in  mosaic-work  over  the 
part  behind  the  altar  ;  and  this  was  no  doubt, 
like  many  of  the  glorious  mosaics,  on  a  golden 
ground,  which  you  often  see  in  old  Italian 
churches. 

This  Church  of  San  Pietro  in  Ciel  cV  Oro  is 
mentioned  by  Dante  as  the  last  resting-place 
of  Boethius,  of  whom  you  read  in  the  chapter 
about  Theodoric.  Dante  tells  us,  in  his  own 
beautiful  words,  how  the  body  of  Boethius  lies 
"down  in  Cieldauro,"  and  how  his  soul  came 
"from  martyrdom  and  exile"  to  the  peace  of 
Paradise. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   IRON   CROWN      107 

When  King  Liutprand  first  brought  the 
body  of  St.  Augustine  to  San  Pietro,  the 
church  was  under  the  care  of  Benedictine 
monks,  who  buried  the  precious  remains  in  a 
vault  beneath  the  floor,  so  that  they  might  be 
safe. 

Later  on,  the  church  was  given  to  another 
set  of  clergy,  and  some  of  these  belonged  to  an 
Augustinian  order.  In  the  fourteenth  century 
these  Augustinian  monks  (or  "Eremitani,"  as 
they  are  called)  began  the  splendid  shrine 
which  we  now  see  in  the  Church  of  San  Pietro. 

The  present  church  is  quite  a  modern  re- 
storation, and  the  body  of  St.  Augustine  and 
its  beautiful  shrine  have  often  had  to  be  moved. 
The  shrine  stood  for  a  time  in  the  Cathedral  at 
Pavia,  but  a  few  years  ago  it  was  put  back  into 
its  old  place  in  San  Pietro,  and  so  St.  Augustine 
rests  once  more  "  down  in  Cieldauro."  No  one 
who  goes  to  Pavia  should  forget  to  go  and  visit 
the  church,  with  all  its  wonderful  memories — 
memories  of  St.  Augustine  and  of  the  Lombard 
kings,  as  well  as  of  Boethius,  Theodoric,  and 
Dante. 

When  we  remember  that  St.  Augustine 
was  taught  and  baptized  by  St.  Ambrose,  the 
famous  Bishop  of  Milan,  it  seems  very  appro- 
priate that  his  body  should  have  been  brought 
back  to  Italy,  to  rest,  at  last,  near  his  great 
teacher. 


108      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

And  now  this  story  about  Queen  Theude- 
linda  and  the  Lombards  must  come  to  an  end. 
You  will  read  in  another  chapter  how  the  Pope 
invited  the  Franks  to  come  and  help  him 
against  the  attacks  of  the  Lombards,  and  how 
King  Pepin  and  his  son,  Charlemagne,  came  to 
the  Pope's  aid. 

In  774  Charlemagne  and  his  Franks  crossed 
the  Alps,  defeated  the  last  Lombard  king,  and, 
after  besieging  Pavia  for  nearly  ten  months, 
entered  the  city  as  conquerors.  Charlemagne 
was  acknowledged  by  the  Lombards  as  their 
lord,  and  the  Lombard  rule  in  Italy  came  to 
an  end. 


V 

THE  POPES  AND  THE  EMPERORS 

"  If  therefore   ye  delight  in  thrones  and  sceptres,  ye  princes 
of  peoples, 
Honour  wisdom,  that  ye  may  reign  for  ever." 

Wisdom  of  Solomon^  vi.  21. 

The  title  of  this  chapter  is  rather  a  curious  one. 
We  are  going  to  begin  by  speaking  once  more 
of  the  time  when  the  great  Roman  Empire  had 
fallen  to  pieces,  and  the  barbarians  had  spread 
over  much  of  Europe.  As  you  have  read  in 
the  chapter  about  Theodoric,  the  last  Roman 
Emperors  lived  chiefly  at  Ravenna,  and  less 
and  less  at  Rome ;  they  lost  almost  all  their 
power,  and  in  476  the  Roman  Empire  of  the 
West  was  swept  away  by  Odovacar. 

But  there  had  been  a  feeling,  even  among 
the  barbarians,  that  Rome  and  her  empire 
could  never  really  perish  altogether ;  and 
although  they  destroyed  much  of  the  old 
Roman  civilisation,  their  chiefs  and  leaders 
were  often  anxious  to  imitate  Roman  ways  of 
government,    and    to    rule    as    if    they   were 

successors  or  deputies  of  the  Roman  Emperor. 

109 


no      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Gradually,  however,  the  Roman  Empire  had 
fallen  into  ruins,  and  a  time  of  terrible  ignor- 
ance, trouble,  and  confusion  followed.  The 
great  nations  of  modern  Europe  had  hardly 
begun  to  grow  up,  and  there  seemed  to  be 
only  two  things  left  to  help  to  keep  any  sort 
of  order  in  the  world.  Those  two  things  were 
the  Roman  Church  and  the  Roman  Law.  The 
city  of  Rome  herself,  too,  was  still  the  only 
centre  for  any  kind  of  unity  among  men,  as  she 
was  the  centre  of  Western  Christendom  and 
the  home  of  the  old  Roman  Law. 

It  was  very  natural  that  the  power  of  the 
Church  should  increase  after  the  downfall  of 
the  Empire,  and  indeed  we  may  almost  say 
that  the  place  of  the  Emperor  was  taken  by 
the  Bishop  of  Rome — at  any  rate,  in  Rome 
itself.  The  great  position  held  by  the  Bishop 
of  Rome — or  the  Pope,  as  he  came  to  be  called 
— had  been  growing  ever  since  the  Emperor 
Constantine  had  moved  the  seat  of  government 
from  Rome  to  Constantinople,  and  this  power- 
ful position  of  the  Pope's  is  a  very  important 
thing  to  remember,  because  it  explains  a  great 
deal  of  the  history  of  all  Europe  for  many 
hundreds  of  years. 

You  will  like  to  hear  something  about  one 
or  two  of  the  Popes  in  those  early  days, 
as  that  will  help  you  to  understand  how 
it    was    that    they    won    and    kept    so    great 


THE   POPES  AND  THE   EMPERORS       in 

a  place   and  influence   among   the    nations  of 
Europe. 

You  will  remember  that  in  the  first  story 
you  read  about  the  terrible  King  of  the  Huns, 
Attila,  and  how  he  attacked,  first  Gaul,  and 
then  Italy. 

After  the  awful  destruction  of  Aquileia  and 
other  cities  in  Venetia,  Attila  marched  through 
what  is  now  called  Lombardy,  and  the  cities  of 
Verona,  Pavia,  and  Milan  opened  their  gates 
to  him,  thinking  it  better  not  to  resist,  for  fear 
of  worse  things. 

The  people  of  Rome  were  in  terror  lest 
these  barbarian  savages  should  come  there 
also,  so  they  arranged  to  send  an  embassy  to 
Attila,  and  to  try  whether  he  could  be  per- 
suaded to  spare  the  country  any  further 
plundering  and  slaughter. 

Now,  the  Pope  at  that  time  was  named  Leo. 
He  was  a  brave,  wise,  and  holy  man,  and  is 
now  generally  called  Leo,  or  St.  Leo,  the 
Great.  He  was  the  first  of  the  thirteen  Popes 
who  took  the  name  of  Leo. 

Putting  aside  all  fear,  lion-hearted  like  his 
name,  the  Pope  determined  to  join  the  embassy 
to  Attila,  and  went  with  the  two  great  officials  of 
the  Empire  who  were  sent  from  Rome.  The 
ambassadors  met  Attila  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  Mincio,  not  far  from  the  city  of  Mantua, 
and,    strange   as   it    may  seem,    they   actually 


ii2      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN    HISTORY 

prevailed  upon  him  to  leave  Italy  in  peace. 
Attila  returned  to  his  own  country  beyond  the 
Danube,  promising  to  be  satisfied  with  a  tribute. 
We  cannot  tell  how  long  Attila  might  have 
kept  his  promise,  because  he  died  the  next 
year  (453). 

Most  people  believed  that  it  was  really  the 
influence  of  Pope  Leo  1.  and  the  power  of  his 
goodness  that  had  persuaded  Attila  to  retreat, 
and  thus  saved  Italy  from  the  Huns.  It  is 
easy  to  understand,  therefore,  that  this  embassy 
to  Attila  and  its  results  helped  to  give  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  a  greater  position  than  ever 
before.  And,  indeed,  Leo  1.  asserted  the  right 
of  the  Roman  See  to  be  the  head  of  the 
Church  in  all  the  rest  of  Europe,  and  he 
claimed  that  every  one  ought  to  obey  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  in  all  matters  connected  with 
the  Church. 

And,  again,  there  is  another  name  which 
we  in  England  have  cause  to  remember 
with  much  gratitude,  and  that  is  the  name  of 
Pope  Gregory  the  Great,  who,  as  you  know, 
was  Bishop  of  Rome  from  590  to  604.  You 
have  already  learnt  about  his  friendship  with 
the  Lombard  queen,  Theudelinda,  and  of  his 
letters  to  her.  We  have  also  spoken  of  the 
great  wish  of  Pope  Gregory  to  convert  England 
and  its  Saxon  conquerors  to  Christianity, 
after  his  seeing  the  fair  Anglo-Saxon  children 


THE   POPES  AND  THE   EMPERORS       113 

in  the  market-place  in  Rome,  and  of  his 
determination  that  the  praises  of  God  should 
be  sung  in  their  land.  Christianity  had  been 
taught  in  Britain  long  before  St.  Gregory's 
time,  and  there  was  still  an  ancient  British 
Church,  with  its  bishops.  But  the  Saxons 
were  still  heathens,  and  Pope  Gregory  did  a 
great  work  in  sending  St.  Augustine  to  con- 
vert them  and  to  revive  and  strengthen  the 
Christians  throughout  all  Britain. 

All  English  boys  and  girls  ought  to  re- 
member the  tradition  which  tells  of  the  founda- 
tion of  the  church  on  Thorney  Isle  by  Sebert, 
King  of  the  East  Saxons,  nephew  of  Ethelbert, 
King  of  Kent,  who  was  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity by  St.  Augustine.  King  Sebert's  church 
stood  where  Westminster  Abbey  now  stands, 
and  the  beautiful  old  story  tells  us  that  it  was 
consecrated  by  St.  Peter  himself.  Mellitus, 
who  was  then  Bishop  of  London,  was  one  of 
the  friends  and  pupils  of  St.  Gregory  the  Great. 

All  this  is  very  interesting  to  English  people, 

but  what  we  must  specially   remember   while 

reading  this  chapter  is  the  way  in  which  Pope 

Gregory  raised  and  strengthened  the  position 

of  the  Bishops  of  Rome,  partly  by  means  of 

his  own  personal  goodness  and  influence,  partly 

by  his  writings,  and   also  by  the  grand  music 

and  ritual  he  ordered  for  the  services  of  the 

Church.     In   these   various  ways,  and    by  his 
8 


ii4     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

wisdom  in  dealing  with  men  and  nations,  he 
helped  very  greatly  to  increase  the  authority 
of  the  Roman  See. 

We  have  so  far  spoken  only  about  Popes, 
and  perhaps  you  are  beginning  to  wonder  when 
you  are  going  to  hear  anything  about  Emperors. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  chapter  Rome  was 
described  as  the  religious  centre  of  the  West ; 
but  as  time  went  on,  people  found  that  they 
also  needed  some  strong  power  to  check  the 
constant  wars  and  the  terrible  disorder  in  civil 
life — some  power  that  would  help  to  form  a 
new  civilisation  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  old 
one  that  had  been  almost  destroyed  by  the 
barbarians.  In  fact,  what  was  wanted  was 
some  one  to  take  the  place  of  the  Roman 
Emperor  as  far  as  it  was  possible  in  the  new 
state  of  things.  The  Popes  saw  and  felt  this 
very  strongly,  and  we  will  see  what  happened. 

If  you  think  of  your  French  history,  you  will 
remember  that  from  the  fifth  century  onwards 
a  new  and  powerful  monarchy  was  gradually 
growing  up  in  the  west  of  Europe,  and  that 
was  the  monarchy  of  the  Franks,  which  may 
be  said  to  have  begun  with  Clovis,  who  was 
converted  to  Christianity  in  496. 

Early  in  the  eight  century,  the  chief  power 
in  the  Frankish  kingdom  (which  we  now  call 
France)  was  in  the  hands  of  a  very  brave  and 
famous    man    known    as    Charles    Martel,    or 


THE   POPES   AND  THE   EMPERORS       115 

Charles  the  Hammer.  He  was  so  called 
because  of  the  smashing  blows  he  gave  his 
enemies  in  his  many  wars.  Charles  Martel  was 
not  King  of  the  Franks,  but  he  was  the  Mayor  of 
the  Palace,  and  he  really  governed  the  kingdom. 
He  fought  much  against  the  heathen  German 
tribes,  but  his  name  is  celebrated  chiefly  because 
of  the  great  victory  he  won  over  the  Saracens 
at  Tours  in  732 — a  victory  which  saved  Europe 
from  being  overrun  by  the  Saracens. 

The  son  of  Charles  Martel  was  Pepin  le  Bref 
(or  "  the  Short "),  who  was  a  very  able  man  and 
a  good  soldier.  At  first,  Pepin  was  only  Mayor 
of  the  Palace,  but  in  752  he  made  himself  King 
of  the  Franks.  In  that  year  he  was  anointed 
King  at  Soissons  by  St.  Boniface,  Archbishop 
of  Mainz.  St.  Boniface  was  an  Englishman  ; 
his  real  name  was  Winifried,  and  he  was  born 
at  Crediton,  in  Devonshire.  St.  Boniface  was 
a  famous  missionary,  and  is  known  as  the 
Apostle  of  the  Germans.  Wherever  the 
armies  of  Charles  Martel  had  gone,  he  followed, 
teaching  Christianity  to  the  Saxons,  Hessians, 
and  other  tribes.  He  was  finally  martyred  by 
the  savage  Frisians,  whom  he  was  trying  to 
convert. 

To  return  to  King  Pepin.  He  was  again 
anointed  and  crowned  King,  in  the  year  753, 
by  Pope  Stephen  11.,  who  had  travelled  all  the 
way  from    Rome   to  implore  his   help  against 


u6      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

the  fierce  Lombards.  This  second  coronation 
took  place  at  St.  Denis,  near  Paris,  and  this 
time  Pepin's  two  sons,  Charles  and  Carloman, 
were  crowned  with  him.  After  his  coronation, 
Pepin  crossed  the  Alps  and  marched  into  Italy 
to  defend  the  Pope  and  his  possessions.  He 
defeated  the  Lombard  king,  and  forced  him  to 
give  up  certain  lands  and  cities  to  the  Pope.  We 
must  remember  that  Pepin  and  his  family  had 
always  been  faithful  supporters  of  the  Church. 

In  j6&  King  Pepin  died,  and  his  large 
kingdom  was  divided  between  his  two  sons, 
Charles  and  Carloman.  In  771  Carloman 
died,  and  Charles  became  sole  King  of  the 
Franks.  We  know  this  famous  king  best  by 
his  beautiful  French  name  of  Charlemagne 
(or  Charles  the  Great),  so  we  shall  call  him 
Charlemagne  when  we  speak  of  him. 

When  Charlemagne  became  King,  he  also 
fought  the  Lombards  in  defence  of  the  Pope. 
He  defeated  them,  and  confirmed  the  Pope 
in  the  possession  of  the  lands  given  him  by 
King  Pepin.  As  you  read  in  an  earlier 
chapter,  the  Lombard  kingdom  came  to  an 
end  in  774,  and  the  Lombards  acknowledged 
Charlemagne  as  their  lord.  Perhaps  all  this 
does  not  seem  to  have  a  great  deal  to  do 
with  Popes  and  Emperors,  but  we  have  to 
remember  it  in  order  to  understand  properly 
what  happened  afterwards. 


THE   POPES   AND  THE   EMPERORS       117 

In  the  year  800  Charlemagne  made  his 
last  and  most  famous  journey  into  Italy.  He 
had  been  victorious  in  many  wars ;  he  was 
a  really  great  ruler,  and  he  was  now  by  far 
the  most  powerful  prince  in  Christendom. 

When  he  arrived  at  the  gates  of  Rome,  on 
November  24th,  800,  he  was  received  with 
the  greatest  possible  pomp  and  respect  ;  and 
when  he  reached  St.  Peter's  Church,  the 
Pope  himself,  with  a  number  of  bishops  and 
other  clergy,  stood  on  the  steps  to  welcome 
him. 

On  Christmas  morning  of  that  same  year 
Charlemagne  went  to  St.  Peter's  Church,  and 
knelt  in  prayer  before  the  tomb  of  St.  Peter. 

When  he  rose  from  his  knees,  Pope  Leo  in. 

drew  near,  placed  a  splendid  golden  crown  on 

his  head,  and  put  the  Imperial  mantle  on  his 

shoulders,  proclaiming  him  by  the  old   Roman 

titles  of  Emperor  and  Augustus.     Upon  this, 

the  people  broke  out  into  loud  acclamations. 

Thus  beoan  what  was  known  for  long-  Cen- 
ts & 

turies  as  the  Holy  Roman  Empire — a  dignity 
which  lasted  for  more  than  a  thousand  years, 
and  was  only  finally  destroyed  by  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  in  1806,  when  the  Emperor  Francis  11. 
was  made  to  resign  the  Imperial  crown.  We 
might  say,  indeed,  that  this  Roman  Empire  had 
lasted  for  a  great  deal  more  than  a  thousand 
years,    for   many  people   looked    upon  it  as  a 


n8      STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN   HISTORY 

restoration  of  the  Empire  which  began  with  the 
Emperor  Augustus  in  B.C.  27. 

The  idea  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  in- 
fluenced all  the  Middle  Ages,  and  even  so  late 
as  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  it  was  still 
possible  for  the  great  Florentine  poet,  Dante, 
to  write  a  book  in  which  he  said  that  there 
should  be  one  Emperor  over  all  the  kings  and 
princes  of  Europe,  just  as  there  was  one  Pope 
who  was  the  earthly  head  of  the  Church.  The 
Emperor  was  to  rule  over  men  so  as  to  lead 
them  to  the  greatest  possible  goodness  and 
happiness  in  this  life  ;  the  Pope  was  to  care  for 
their  souls,  and  lead  them  to  the  blessedness 
of  life  eternal.  This  was  a  beautiful  thought, 
but  history  has  shown  us  that  it  was,  and  still 
is,  a  long  way  from  being  realised. 

It  is  very  important  to  remember  that  Charle- 
magne received  the  crown  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire  from  the  hands  of  the  Pope.  The 
Popes  evidently  considered  that  they  had  the 
power  to  make  and  unmake  Emperors,  as  well 
as  to  depose  kings,  and  this  naturally  led  to 
a  great  deal  of  serious  disputing  and  fighting 
in  Europe  in  after  years.  The  Popes  held 
that  they  had  the  right  to  bestow  the  title  of 
Emperor,  and  the  Emperors  did  not  allow  the 
claim.  The  Emperors  held  that  they  were 
independent  of  the  Pope,  and  that  he  had  no 
right  to  interfere  with  them  in  matters  of  civil 


m  ipM  otjuim  nm  mm  w& 


CHARLEMA(i\K. 


THE   POPES   AND  THE   EMPERORS       119 

government.  Thus  we  can  easily  understand 
that,  instead  of  being  friends,  as  Pope  Leo  in. 
and  Charlemagne  were,  the  Popes  and  the 
Emperors  in  later  ages  often  had  dreadful 
quarrels,  and  these  quarrels  affected  most  of 
the  countries  of  Europe,  causing  much  dis- 
turbance and  trouble. 

One  curious  thing  is  to  be  noticed.  From 
the  time  of  Charlemagne  and  onwards  it  was 
almost  always  the  German  king,  or  some  great 
German  prince,  who  became  Roman  Emperor. 
The  Pope  gave  the  Imperial  crown  to  the 
elected  German  king,  who  was  not  Emperor 
until  he  had  received  it.  We  are  always  accus- 
tomed to  think  of  Charlemagne  as  French,  but 
we  must  not  forget  that  he  ruled  over  a  great 
part  of  Germany  and,  as  a  Frank,  was  of 
Teutonic  race. 

One  of  the  great  disputes  between  a  Pope 
and  an  Emperor  was  the  famous  quarrel  between 
Pope  Gregory  vn.  and  the  Emperor  Henry  iv. 

This  quarrel  took  place  only  a  few  years  after 
the  Norman conquestof  England.  PopeGregory 
vii.  had  already  become  well  known  in  Europe, 
under  his  own  name  of  Hildebrand,  while  he 
was  Archdeacon  of  Rome.  He  had  encouraged 
William  the  Conqueror  in  his  plans  for  conquer- 
ing England,  probably  because  the  Normans 
were  helping  the  Papacy  in  Italy  and  Sicily. 
Perhaps  he  also  saw  that,  if  William  conquered 


120      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

England,  the  English  Church  would  be  brought 
more  directly  under  the  power  of  Rome.  In 
1073  Hildebrand  was  elected  Pope,  and  took 
the  name  of  Gregory  vn. 

Very  soon  afterwards  he  began  to  dispute 
with  the  Emperor  about  the  question  of  what 
is  called  the  investiture  of  bishops.  The  Pope 
said  the  Emperor  had  no  right  to  give  the 
Episcopal  ring  and  staff  to  a  bishop. 

The  Emperor  then  held  a  council  at  Worms, 
in  Germany,  and  at  that  council  it  was  declared 
that  Gregory  vn.  was  no  longer  Pope.  A  letter 
was  sent  to  Gregory  to  tell  him  what  the 
council  had  said.  When  the  letter  was  delivered, 
the  Pope  answered  it  by  a  solemn  sentence  of 
deposition  and  anathema  on  the  Emperor 
Henry  iv.  This  sentence  made  the  nobles  turn 
against  the  unfortunate  Emperor,  and  they  told 
him  that,  if  he  did  not  want  to  lose  his  throne 
in  Germany,  he  must  go  and  ask  absolution  of 
the  Pope. 

Now,  the  Pope  was  then  at  the  castle  of 
Canossa,  a  place  which  has  always  been  remem- 
bered ever  since  that  time.  Canossa  belonged 
to  the  great  Countess  Matilda  of  Tuscany,  who 
was  a  personal  friend  of  Gregory  vn.,  and  one 
of  the  chief  supporters  of  the  Papacy.  The 
castle  stood  high  above  the  plain,  on  a  bare 
rock,  in  the  Apennine  Mountains.  It  was  a 
dark,  frowning  fortress,  looking  over  the  vast 


THE   POPES   AND  THE   EMPERORS       121 

plain  of  Lombardy  away  to  the  distant  Alps. 
Here,  in  bitter  winter  weather,  early  in  the 
year  1077,  came  the  Emperor  Henry  iv.,  and 
with  him  came  some  bishops  and  laymen  who 
had  also  been  excommunicated.  They  all 
came  as  humble  penitents.  The  Emperor's 
companions  were  allowed  to  do  penance,  and 
received  absolution,  but  the  Emperor  himself 
was  kept  waiting  for  three  whole  days.  He 
stood  there,  out  in  the  bitter  snow  and  cold, 
barefoot  and  clad  in  a  coarse  woollen  shirt, 
until  the  fierce  old  Pope  would  allow  him  to  be 
let  in. 

At  last  he  was  admitted,  and  received  absolu- 
tion, but  on  very  hard  conditions.  These  con- 
ditions made  his  Lombard  subjects  very  angry, 
and  they  blamed  the  Emperor  for  submitting 
to  the  Pope  ;  so  that  poor  Henry's  position 
was  a  very  hard  one,  although  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  he  had  partly  deserved  it. 

Later  on,  a  kind  of  peace  was  made.  The 
Emperor  still  kept  the  right  of  electing  bishops 
and  abbots,  but  he  had  to  give  up  to  the  Pope 
the  right  of  investing  bishops  with  the  ring  and 
staff. 

The  unfortunate  Emperor  Henry  iv.  had  a 
very  sad  ending  to  his  life.  His  son  turned 
against  him,  and  he  was  quite  deserted  in  his 
last  years.  When  he  died  at  Liege,  in  1106, 
his  body  was  not    allowed    to    remain    in    the 


122      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

cathedral,  but  was  moved  to  a  chapel  near. 
Here  a  poor  monk  who  had  returned  from 
Jerusalem  used  to  come  and  pray  beside  the 
lonely,  neglected  tomb.  Finally,  however, 
Henry  iv.  was  buried  in  the  cathedral  at 
Speyer  with  the  other  princes  of  his  family. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  say  who  was  really  in 
the  right  in  this  quarrel.  There  was,  no  doubt, 
some  right  and  some  wrong  on  both  sides. 
Both  sides  were  too  greedy  of  power.  We 
feel  inclined  to  sympathise  with  the  Emperor, 
partly  because  he  was  very  unfortunate,  and 
partly  because  he  was  so  harshly  treated.  But 
he  was  a  man  of  undisciplined  life,  and  brought 
many  of  his  misfortunes  on  himself.  We  must 
remember,  too,  that  great  abuses  sometimes 
arose  through  bishops  and  great  Church  digni- 
taries being  chosen  entirely  by  the  Emperor 
or  other  princes.  The  people  they  chose  were 
not  always  fit  for  their  sacred  office,  and  in  some 
cases  the  Popes  had  every  right  to  object  to  the 
choice.  Those  days  were  very  different  from 
our  own,  and  plans  that  answer  quite  well  now 
were  often  not  advisable,  or  even  possible,  then. 

In  the  twelfth  century  another  great  struggle 
arose,  this  time  between  the  famous  Emperor 
Frederick  Barbarossa  (or  Red-beard)  and  the 
two  Popes,  Hadrian  iv.  and  Alexander  in. 

It  is  interesting  for  us  Eno-Hsh  to  remember 
that   Pope    Hadrian    iv.    was  an    Englishman, 


THE   POPES   AND   THE   EMPERORS       123 


0 


his  name  being  Nicholas  Breakspear.  Pope 
Alexander  hi.  was  a  friend  of  Archbishop 
Becket,  and  it  was  he  who  placed  the  name  of 
King  Edward  the  Confessor  among  those  of 
the  Saints  of  the  Church. 

The  quarrel  between  these  two  Popes  and 
the  Emperor  was  really  just  on  the  question  as 
to  which  of  them  was  to  be  master.  If  we 
think  of  our  English  history,  we  shall  remember 
the  quarrel  between  Henry  11.  and  Archbishop 
Becket,  which  went  on  much  about  this  same 
time,  and  about  much  the  same  things. 

The  difficulty  arose  chiefly  through  the  Pope 
wishing  to  have  a  great  deal  of  power  in  the 
State.  Indeed,  the  Popes  had  really  become 
sovereigns,  and  were  almost  as  much  princes 
as  they  were  bishops. 

Pope  Hadrian  claimed  certain  lands  which 
had  been  left  to  the  See  of  Rome  by  the 
Countess  Matilda  of  Tuscany.  He  also 
desired  that  the  clergy  should  be  tried  by 
clerical  authority,  and  not  by  the  usual  law  of 
the  land.  These  claims  were  disputed  by  the 
Emperor. 

When  Pope  Alexander  111.  was  elected,  after 
the  death  of  Hadrian  iv.,  the  Emperor  and  his 
council  chose  another  Pope  instead.  Alexander 
said  they  had  no  right  to  do  this,  and  appealed 
against  the  election  of  the  rival  Pope.  He 
fled  from   Rome    and   took   refuge    in  Venice, 


124      STORIES    FROM    ITALIAN    HISTORY 

which  was  an  independent  government,  and 
would  not  take  sides.  The  Doge  of  Venice 
began  to  intercede  for  Pope  Alexander  with  the 
determined  and  terrible  Emperor,  but  Barbar- 
ossa  threatened  that  he  would  attack  Venice 
and  plant  his  eagle  standards  on  St.  Mark's 
unless  the  Pope  were  given  up  to  him. 

However,  the  Venetians  were  not  easy 
people  to  frighten.  The  Doge  told  the 
Emperor  the  Venetians  would  not  wait  for 
him,  so  they  assembled  a  fleet,  and  defeated 
Barbarossa's  ships  in  the  Adriatic,  taking  his 
son,  Prince  Otho,  prisoner.  Barbarossa  saw 
that  he  had  better  try  to  be  friends,  and  in 
1 177  he  actually  consented  to  meet  Pope 
Alexander  in  Venice  for  a  solemn  reconciliation. 

This  famous  meeting  took  place  in  front 
of  St.  Mark's  Church.  The  Pope  sat,  in  his 
splendid  robes,  and  surrounded  by  cardinals, 
bishops,  and  other  clergy,  waiting  for  the 
Emperor  to  approach.  The  Emperor  had 
been  obliged  to  recognise  Alexander  as  the 
true  Pope  before  he  was  allowed  to  come 
to  Venice  at  all.  So  now  he  drew  near,  led 
by  the  Doge,  the  Patriarch,  and  a  great 
procession  with  crosses  and  banners.  When 
he  came  up  to  the  Pope,  he  seemed  to  be 
stricken  with  a  sudden  awe,  and  knelt  before 
him.  The  Pope,  with  tears  of  joy,  raised  the 
Emperor  up,  and  gave  him  the  kiss  of  peace. 


THE   POPES   AND   THE   EMPERORS       125 

Many  stories  were  told  afterwards  about  this 
meeting,  and  there  is  a  celebrated  picture  of  it 
in  the  Ducal  Palace  at  Venice.  One  story, 
told  in  later  days,  says  that,  as  the  Emperor 
knelt  and  bowed  before  the  Pope,  the  Pope  put 
his  foot  on  Barbarossa's  neck,  saying  as  he  did 
so,  "  The  young  lion  and  the  dragon  shalt  thou 
trample  under  foot." 

The  day  after  the  reconciliation  a  solemn 
Mass  was  sung  in  St.  Mark's  by  the  Pope  at 
the  Emperor's  request.  When  the  Mass  was 
ended,  the  Emperor  took  the  Pope's  hand,  led 
him  to  his  white  horse,  and  held  his  stirrup 
while  he  mounted.  Thus  the  great  quarrel 
ended  in  the  victory  of  the  Pope,  and  the 
mighty  Emperor  had  to  give  way. 

Before  we  speak  of  any  more  Popes  and 
Emperors,  we  must  say  something  about  two 
names  you  will  constantly  come  across  if  you 
read  Italian  history  or  Italian  literature  of 
any  kind.  These  two  names  are  Guelf  and 
Ghibelline.  They  are  the  names  of  two  great 
political  parties,  and  during  most  of  the  Middle 
Ages  the  Italians  were  divided  between  these 
two  parties,  Guelf  and  Ghibelline. 

As  these  parties  had  to  do  chiefly  with  the 
Pope  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  the  Emperor 
on  the  other,  it  will  be  as  well  to  explain 
their  names  now.  The  words  "Guelf  and 
"  Ghibelline "  come  from  two  German  names, 


i26     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Welf  and  Weiblingen.  Welf  was  the  name 
of  a  great  Bavarian  family,  some  of  whom 
were  Dukes  of  Bavaria  in  the  tenth  and 
eleventh  centuries.  The  Welfs  were  among 
the  ancestors  of  the  House  of  Brunswick,  and 
thus  of  our  own  Royal  Family  also. 

Weiblingen  was  the  name  of  a  castle  in 
Franconia,  and  was  the  home  of  the  Emperor 
Conrad  n.  Conrad  n.  was  the  first  Emperor 
of  the  great  Franconian  line,  and  was  grand- 
father of  the  Emperor  Henry  iv.,  about  whom 
we  spoke  just  now. 

He  was  also  the  ancestor  of  the  still  more 
famous  House  of  Hohenstaufen,  to  which 
Frederick  Barbarossa  belonged.  The  first 
Hohenstaufen  Emperor  was  Conrad  in.  ;  he 
had  a  great  fight  with  the  Welf  Duke  of 
Bavaria,  and  it  was  at  this  time  (1140)  that 
the  names  Welf  and  Weiblingen  first  began 
to  be  used  as  battle-cries  in  war. 

The  Italians  turned  these  names  into  Guelf 
and  Ghibelline,  and  it  is  very  important  to 
remember  what  they  meant,  if  we  want  to 
understand  anything  at  all  about  Italy. 

To  put  it  shortly,  we  may  say  that  the 
Guelfs  were  the  Pope's  party,  while  the 
Ghibellines  were  the  Emperor's  party.  The 
Ghibellines  were  mostly  men  of  the  court  and 
camp,  and  represented  the  nobility  and  the 
feudal    system    generally.     They  also  held  to 


THE   POPES   AND   THE   EMPERORS       127 

the  idea  of  a  universal  Empire,  of  which  Italy 
was  to  be  the  head. 

The  Guelfs,  on  the  other  hand,  were  zealous 
supporters  of  the  Church  and  the  Papacy,  and 
were  the  defenders  of  Italian  national  life  and 
liberty.  They  stood  up  for  the  interests  of  the 
cities  and  of  the  commercial  and  working 
classes. 

The  Italian  cities  usually  took  sides  with  the 
Pope,  because  they  felt  that  the  Empire  and 
the  feudal  nobility  threatened  their  freedom 
and  their  right  of  self-government.  The  Guelf 
party  cared  more  for  Italy  herself  than  for  the 
idea  of  a  universal  Empire. 

These  two  parties  really  made  the  history 
of  Italy  for  centuries,  and  caused  endless 
divisions  in  nearly  all  the  Italian  states,  towns, 
and  even  among  people  of  the  same  family. 

But  to  return  to  the  Popes  and  the  Emperors. 
It  seemed,  indeed,  as  if  they  could  never 
remain  friends  for  long,  and  in  the  thirteenth 
century  they  had  one  of  their  last  and  worst 
quarrels.  This  time  the  struggle  was  between 
Pope  Gregory  ix.,  and  after  him  Pope 
Innocent  iv.,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  Emperor 
Frederick  u.,  grandson  of  the  great  Frederick 
Barbarossa,  on  the  other.  Frederick  11.  was 
a  very  powerful  prince,  and  very  remarkable 
for  his  great  abilities.  Some  one  described 
him  as  the  "  wonder  of  the  world." 


128      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

It  would  take  far  too  long  to  tell  the  whole 
story  of  the  fight  between  him  and  the  Pope, 
which  fight,  indeed,  lasted  for  years.  The 
Pope  was  claiming  to  rule  over  great  pos- 
sessions in  Italy,  and  to  be  quite  independent 
of  the  Emperor.  Moreover,  he  considered 
that  he  ought  to  have  power  over  the  Church 
throughout  the  world.  Under  Frederick  n. 
the  Empire  was  too  powerful,  and  menaced 
the  Pope's  independence,  and  this  made  a 
difficulty  from  the  beginning.  The  first  cause 
of  an  open  quarrel  was  that  the  Emperor 
delayed  joining  the  Crusade,  as  he  had 
promised  to  do.  This  and  other  violent  dis- 
putes went  on  until  Frederick's  death  in  1250. 
When  the  Emperor  died,  his  son,  King 
Manfred,  became  King  of  Sicily.  The  Pope 
was  determined  not  to  let  him  be  King,  so  he 
did  what  the  Popes  did  in  the  days  of  Pepin 
and  Charlemagne  when  they  wanted  help 
against  the  Lombards — and  he  turned  for 
help  to  France. 

He  offered  the  Crown  of  Sicily  to  King 
Louis  ix.  of  France,  who  refused  it.  He  then 
offered  it  to  the  brother  of  King  Louis, 
Charles  of  Anjou.  He  accepted  the  offer,  and 
came  into  Italy  to  fight  Manfred.  A  great 
battle  was  fought  at  Benevento  (in  the  south 
of  Italy)  in  1266,  at  which  King  Manfred  was 
defeated  and  slain.     So  bitter  was  the  Pope's 


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THE   POPES   AND  THE   EMPERORS       129 

feeling  against  the  family  of  the  Emperor,  that 
he  would  not  allow  Manfred's  body  to  rest  in 
the  kingdom  of  Naples,  but  had  it  taken  out 
of  its  first  grave  and  cast  down  by  the  river 
Verde. 

In  1268  another  great  victory  over  the 
Imperial  army  was  won  by  the  French  and  the 
Papal  party.  This  was  at  Tagliacozzo,  when 
the  young  Conradin,  the  last  of  the  famous 
Hohenstaufen  House,  was  defeated,  and  after- 
wards betrayed  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
He  was  executed  at  Naples  by  order  of 
Charles  of  Anjou.  Thus  the  line  of  the  great 
Barbarossa  came  to  an  end,  and  a  French 
prince  became  King  of  Naples  and  Sicily. 

Once  more  the  Pope  had  triumphed  over  the 
Emperor,  but  some  of  the  following  chapters 
will  show  that  the  triumph  was  not  very  long- 
lived,  for  the  Popes  suffered  a  worse  humilia- 
tion at  the  hands  of  King  Philip  the  Fair  of 
France  than  they  had  ever  yet  undergone  at 
the  hands  of  the  Emperor. 

We  must  now  pass  over  more  than  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  when  we  come  to  the 
time  of  the  most  powerful  Emperor  who  had 
reigned  since  Barbarossa  and  his  family,  or 
even  since  Charlemagne  himself.  This  was 
the  Emperor  Charles  v.,  who  ruled  over  Spain, 
Naples,  Austria,  and  Flanders,  besides  having 
a  great  empire  in  the  New  World.  Charles  v. 
9 


130     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

belonged  to  the  House  of  Hapburg.  He  was 
a  cousin  of  Katharine  of  Aragon,  first  wife  of 
our  King  Henry  vin.  You  may  remember, 
too,  that  when  a  Roman  Emperor  had  to  be 
elected  in  15 19,  Henry  vin.  of  England  and 
Francis  1.  of  France  both  tried  to  be  made 
Emperor,  but  the  choice  finally  fell  upon 
Charles  v. 

The  Pope  at  the  time  of  which  we  are 
speaking  belonged  to  the  celebrated  Florentine 
family  of  the  Medici,  and  was  called  Clement  vn. 

Now,  this  was  just  about  the  time  of  the 
Reformation,  when  terrible  struggles  were 
going  on  for  the  cause  of  religious  freedom. 
Charles  v.  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  took 
the  Catholic  side  against  the  Protestants ;  but 
this  did  not  prevent  him  from  doing  a  terrible 
injury  to  the  Pope  and  to  the  city  of  Rome. 

In  the  year  1525  there  was  a  war  between 
the  Emperor  and  the  French  king,  Francis  1., 
and  the  Pope,  alarmed  at  the  growing  power 
of  Spain,  took  the  French  side.  Francis  1. 
was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle 
of  Pavia,  leaving  the  Emperor  master  of  the 
situation. 

In  1527  Rome  was  besieged  by  the  Imperial 
army  to  punish  the  Pope  for  taking  part  with 
the  French.  The  Emperor's  army  was  made 
up  of  Germans,  Spaniards,  and  Italians,  and 
was  commanded  by  the  Constable  de  Bourbon. 


THE   POPES   AND   THE   EMPERORS       131 

At  the  first  assault  the  invaders  got  posses- 
sion of  part  of  Rome,  and  the  Pope,  with 
a  number  of  cardinals  and  court  officials, 
fled  for  refuge  to  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo, 
which  was  fortified.  Rome  was  taken  by  the 
Imperial  forces  and  sacked  with  terrible  greed 
and  barbarity.  That  sack  of  Rome  was  almost 
the  worst  the  city  had  ever  endured,  even  from 
the  so-called  barbarians,  and  she  has  never 
recovered  her  former  beauty  and  splendour. 
However,  Pope  Clement  vn.  and  the  Emperor 
Charles  v.  came  to  terms,  and  a  treaty  was 
made  at  Barcelona  in  1529.  Charles  was  to 
be  crowned  Emperor,  and  to  have  the  kingdom 
of  Naples,  while  the  Pope  was  to  have  the 
province  of  Emilia  given  back  to  him,  and  the 
Medici  family  were  to  rule  in  Florence.  The 
French  power  and  influence  in  Italy  thus  came 
to  an  end,  and  through  this  alliance  between 
the  Pope  and  the  Emperor,  Italy  was  crushed 
beneath  a  Spanish  and  Papal  tyranny. 

Clement  vn.  and  Charles  v.  met  in  great 
state  at  Bologna  in  the  autumn  of  1529,  a  few 
months  before  Charles'  coronation. 

The  coronation  of  Charles  v.  as  Roman 
Emperor  took  place  on  February  24th,  1530, 
in  the  great  Cathedral  Church  of  San  Petronio 
at  Bologna.  Charles  had  insisted  on  the  Iron 
Crown  being  sent  to  Bologna  from  Monza, 
and  he  had  already  been  crowned  with  it  by 


132      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

the  Pope  on  February  22nd.  The  Lombard 
people  had  wished  him  to  receive  the  Iron 
Crown  at  Monza,  according  to  ancient  custom, 
but  Charles  answered  that  he  was  not  wont 
to  run  after  crowns,  but  to  have  crowns  running 
after  him. 

The  ceremony  of  the  final  coronation  was 
very  splendid,  and  was  attended  by  Spanish, 
Italian,  and  German  nobles,  besides  ambas- 
sadors from  England,  France,  Scotland, 
Hungary,  and  other  countries.  The  bishops, 
priests,  and  nobles  from  all  parts  of  Europe 
were  attired  in  gorgeous  dresses,  adorned  with 
gold,  silver,  and  jewels. 

Any  one  who  is  interested  in  English  history 
will  remember  the  name  of  Cardinal  Campeggio, 
who  was  sent  to  England  by  Pope  Clement  vn. 
to  consult  about  Henry  vni.'s  divorce  from 
Katharine  of  Aragon.  Cardinal  Campeggio 
belonged  to  a  noble  Bolognese  family,  and 
was  Bishop  of  Bologna  at  this  very  time.  He 
returned  to  his  native  city  to  be  present  at 
the  welcome  of  Charles  v. 

On  the  coronation  day,  the  Pope  was  carried 
in  full  state  into  San  Petronio,  accompanied 
by  a  great  train  of  ecclesiastics.  He  wore 
the  papal  tiara  and  a  most  splendid  cope, 
fastened  with  the  famous  stud  worked  by 
Benvenuto  Cellini,  in  which  was  set  the 
diamond  that  had  once  belonged  to  three  very 


THE   POPES   AND  THE   EMPERORS       133 

celebrated  men — Ludovico  il  Moro,  Duke  of 
Milan  ;  Charles  the  Bold,  Duke  of  Burgundy  ; 
and  Pope  Julius  11. 

After  the  Pope's  procession  came  the 
Emperor's.  The  Emperor  was  in  magnificent 
robes,  and  four  of  the  great  princes  of  the 
Empire  carried  the  Imperial  insignia.  The 
Marquess  of  Montferrat  carried  the  sceptre  ; 
the  Duke  of  Bavaria  carried  the  orb ;  the 
Duke  of  Urbino,  in  splendid  robes  of  crimson 
and  gold  brocade,  carried  the  sword  ;  while  the 
Duke  of  Savoy  carried  the  Imperial  crown. 

Thus  they  came  in  great  pomp  and  state  to 
the  cathedral,  where  the  Emperor  was  received 
by  the  clergy. 

Charles  was  consecrated  as  a  deacon,  then 
anointed,  and  then  led  to  the  Pope  to  be 
crowned.  The  Pope  gave  him  the  sword,  the 
sceptre,  the  orb,  and  the  crown,  after  which  the 
Emperor,  who  was  kneeling  before  him,  bent 
and  kissed  the  Pope's  feet. 

When  Charles  rose  he  took  his  seat  on  a 
throne  beside  the  Pope,  the  Imperial  throne 
being  set  two  steps  lower  than  the  Pope's, 
just  as  we  see  it  in  many  old  pictures. 

After  the  Mass  the  Pope  and  Emperor 
shook  hands,  and  at  the  door  Charles  held 
the  Pope's  stirrup  and  led  his  palfrey  for  a 
few  paces,  as  a  sign  that  he  owed  a  son's 
obedience  to  the  Church. 


134     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

This  was  the  last  time  that  an  Emperor  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Empire  was  crowned  by  a 
Pope,  and  we  cannot  help  feeling  that  this 
coronation  was  really  a  triumph  of  the 
Emperor  over  the  Pope  and  a  triumph  of 
the  foreigner  over  Italy. 

One  last,  and  very  short,  story  about  a  Pope 
and  an  Emperor — not  a  Roman  Emperor  this 
time,  but  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  Emperor  of  the 
French. 

Some  few  years  after  the  French  Revolution, 
as  we  all  know,  Napoleon  had  made  himself 
master  of  a  great  part  of  Europe,  and  in  1804 
it  was  arranged  that  he  should  become  Emperor 
of  the  French,  and  that  the  Imperial  dignity 
should  be  hereditary  in  his  family. 

The  Pope  at  the  time  was  Pius  vn.,  and 
Napoleon  obliged  him  to  take  the  long,  tiring 
journey  from  Rome  to  Paris  in  order  to  crown 
him  Emperor.  When  the  time  came,  and  they 
were  all  assembled  in  Notre- Dame  for  the 
gorgeous  ceremony,  the  Pope  indeed  anointed 
Napoleon,  but  Napoleon  set  the  crown  on  his 
own  head,  and  himself  crowned  the  Empress 
Josephine. 

Although  the  two  occasions  were  not  alto- 
gether  unlike,  we  seem  a  long,  long  way  from 
the  coronation  of  King  Pepin  at  St.  Denis  by 
Pope  Stephen  n.  in  753  ! 

A  long   procession  of  popes   and   emperors 


THE   POPES   AND  THE   EMPERORS       135 

has  swept  past  us  :  Leo  in.  and  Charlemagne  ; 
the    stern    Gregory   vii.   and   the    foolish   and 
unfortunate     Henry  iv.  ;     Barbarossa   and    the 
two  determined  popes,   Hadrian  iv.  and  Alex- 
ander vi.  ;   Frederick  11.  and  his  family,  crushed 
at   last  by    the    Pope   and   his    French   allies. 
Then  we  see  Clement  vn.,  forced  to  bow  to  the 
superior   force    of    Charles   v.  ;    Pius   vi.    and 
Pius  vn.,  both  treated  with  scant  respect  and 
courtesy  by  Napoleon    Bonaparte.     When  we 
remember  the  history  of  these  men,  and  as  we 
read  this   chapter   about   the   Popes    and    the 
Emperors,  we  shall  perhaps  feel  that  the  idea 
of  there  being  one  visible  head  of  the  church 
on  earth  and  one  visible  head  of  the  state  for 
all  the  civilised  world  seems  strange  and  almost 
impossible.    We  see  all  the  great  nations  of  the 
world  round  us;  they  all  appear  separate  and 
independent,  each  having  the  right  to  govern 
itself  as  it  sees  fit,  and  we  can  hardly  imagine 
that  their  rulers  would  ever  bow  to  the  rule  of 
one  universal  bishop  or  one  universal  emperor. 
Still,  we  must  not  forget  that  the  idea  of  the 
unity  and  peace  of  mankind  is   a  very  grand 
one,    and   that   it    is    of   the   very   essence    of 
Christianity.      In  spite  of  all  its  failures,  it  was 
this  idea  that  tried  to  speak  to  us  in  those  two 
great  figures   of  the   Middle  Ages — the  Pope 
and  the  Emperor. 


VI 
THE  LITTLE  POOR  MAN 

"  Love  and  a  gentle  heart  are  one  same  thing." 

Dante,  Vita  Nuova. 

Some  day  you  may  perhaps  journey  to  Rome, 
and  when  you  do  you  may  pass  through  that 
beautiful  part  of  Central  Italy  which  is  south  of 
Tuscany  and  north  of  Rome,  and  which  is  called 
Umbria.  You  will  see  the  great  Umbrian 
plain,  where  there  was  once  an  immense  lake, 
and  through  which  the  river  Tiber  flows. 
Surrounding  the  plain  are  long  ranges  of 
mountains,  which  seem  to  rise  one  beyond  the 
other  in  lovely,  melting  lines  of  soft  blue  and 
purple,  just  as  they  painted  them  in  the  old 
pictures.  Long,  long  ago  the  Etruscans  lived 
in  Umbria,  and  they  have  left  the  remains 
of  their  famous  hill  towns  to  crown  many 
of  the  lesser  heights  in  the  Umbrian  hill 
country. 

We  know  the  old  Etruscan  building  by  its 
massive  blocks  of  stone,  laid  one  upon  another 

without   mortar ;   and   we    can    still    see  many 

136 


THE   LITTLE   POOR   MAN  137 

wonderful  remains  of  Etruscan  sculpture,  paint- 
ing, pottery,  and  other  arts. 

High  above  the  Umbrian  plain  rises  the 
great  town  of  Perugia,  once  Etruscan,  and 
afterwards  Roman.  Quite  near  it  is  the  calm 
and  silvery  Lake  Thrasymene,  where  Flaminius 
was  conquered  by  Hannibal  in  a  fearful  fight, 
and  near  whose  shores  the  bones  of  Roman  and 
Carthaginian  soldiers  are  still  sometimes  found 
by  the  country  folk.  It  all  seems  peaceful  and 
placid  enough  now,  as  you  sit  by  the  shore,  or 
walk  in  the  streets  of  some  little  town  by  the 
lake,  watching  the  people,  in  their  gay  dresses, 
perhaps  coming  to  a  fair,  and  driving  their 
beautiful,  cream-coloured  oxen. 

Facing  Perugia,  as  you  look  across  the  plain, 
stands  the  town  of  Assisi,  perched  high  on  the 
steep  slopes  of  Monte  Subasio.  Assisi  was 
an  old  Roman  town,  and  is  now,  for  a  special 
reason,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  places  in 
Europe — and,  indeed,  in  the  world. 

The  great  Italian  poet,  Dante,  said  in  his 
famous  poem,  the  "  Divine  Comedy,"  that  we 
ought  to  call  Assisi  the  place  of  sunrise,  because 
of  the  wonderful  li^ht  that  once  arose  there. 
What  did  Dante  mean  ?  This  story  will  try  to 
answer  that  question. 

In  the  twelfth  century  there  lived  at  Assisi 
a  well-to-do  cloth  merchant  named  Pietro 
Bernardone.      He    had    married    a    wife    from 


138      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Provence,  and  she  was  known  at  Assisi  as 
Madonna  Pica. 

In  1 182,  when  Messer  Pietro  Bernardone 
was  away  on  business  in  France, — probably  at 
one  of  the  great  cloth-fairs  at  Troyes, — his 
little  son  was  born  at  Assisi,  and  was  baptized 
John.  However,  when  the  father  came  home 
he  called  the  little  boy  his  little  Frenchman, 
his  "  Francesco,"  or,  as  we  say  in  English, 
Francis. 

Francis  grew  up  full  of  high  spirits  and 
gaiety,  and  fond  of  all  kinds  of  wild  fun  and 
frolic.  He  learned  the  Provencal  language 
from  his  French  mother,  who  taught  him  to 
love  the  old  tales  of  romance  and  chivalry  told 
by  the  troubadours.  He  must  have  known 
the  troubadour  stories  about  King  Arthur  and 
his  knights,  and  about  Charlemagne  and  his 
paladins.  He  also  loved  music  and  the  trou- 
badour songs.  It  is  said  that  whenever 
Francis  was  much  excited  he  began  to  talk  in 
French,  although  we  are  also  told  that  he  did 
not  speak  it  well. 

The  life  in  Italy  at  this  time  was  a  curious 
mixture  of  splendour  and  misery  ;  there  was 
pleasure  and  amusement  on  the  one  hand,  strife, 
war,  and  cruelty  on  the  other.  The  poor 
suffered  greatly  from  famine  and  pestilence, 
and  at  the  gates  of  the  cities  were  to  be  seen 
the  lazar-houses,  built  for  the    victims   of  the 


THE   LITTLE   POOR   MAN  139 

fearful  disease  of  leprosy,  which  had  been 
brought  from  the  East  by  the  Crusaders,  and 
had  spread  over  Western  Europe.  Meanwhile, 
the  towns  were  getting  bigger,  and  the 
merchants  and  artisans  were  becoming  wealthier. 
The  richer  merchants  associated  with  the 
nobles,  and  were  often  the  bankers  and  advisers 
of  kings.  But  the  people  who  were  less  well 
off  did  not  care  so  much  about  the  feudal 
nobility.  They  disliked  and  dreaded  the 
endless  fighting  which  was  kept  up  by  the 
nobles,  because  these  wars  caused  so  much 
want  and  misery. 

This  was  the  kind  of  life  into  which  Francis 
Bernardone  was  born,  and  we  are  told  that  he 
became  one  of  the  wildest  of  all  the  wild  and 
extravagant  band  of  young  men  in  Assisi.  He 
wasted  both  his  time  and  his  money,  and  set  a 
bad  example  of  folly  to  the  others. 

In  1202  there  was  a  fiodit  between  the  towns 
of  Assisi  and  Perugia.  It  was  no  uncommon 
thing  in  those  days  in  Italy  for  one  Italian  town 
to  fight  another,  although  it  seems  strange  and 
dreadful  to  us  now  to  think  of  it.  Francis 
joined  those  nobles  of  Assisi  who  went  to  the 
war,  and  rode  forth  with  them  in  all  his  bravery 
on  a  splendid  charger. 

The  Assisans  were  defeated ;  the  nobles 
were  imprisoned  for  a  year,  and  Francis  was 
imprisoned  with  them.     It  was  he  who  cheered 


140     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

them  with  his  wild  spirits,  astonishing  them  by 
his  merriment  in  the  prison.  We  are  told  that 
"  among  his  fellow-prisoners  was  a  knight,  a 
very  proud  and  unbearable  man  ;  but,  while  all 
the  rest  determined  to  shun  him,  Francis' 
patience  did  not  fail.  He  endured  the  unendur- 
able knight,  and  induced  the  others  to  make  it 
up  with  him."  We  can  see  already  that  the 
courage,  patience,  and  sweet  temper  Francis 
showed  were  a  promise  of  yet  greater  things 
which  were  to  come. 

Soon  after  Francis  came  home  again  he  fell 
ill  of  a  fever,  and  when  he  began  to  recover  all 
the  world  seemed  changed  to  him  ;  none  of  the 
old  pleasures  delighted  him,  and  many  serious 
thoughts  came  over  him.  However,  when  he 
was  quite  restored  to  health,  he  began  to  think 
of  doing  great  things  in  the  world,  and  of 
making  a  name  for  himself.  So  he  planned  to 
join  a  noble  knight  of  Assisi  who  was  setting 
out  for  Apulia  to  fight  under  the  banner  of  the 
11  gentle  Count,"  Walter  de  Brienne,  against 
the  Germans.  But  at  Spoleto  Francis  fell  ill 
again,  and  now  he  seemed  to  hear  a  call  to 
quite  another  kind  of  life  and  a  summons  to 
fight  under  another  Captain.  He  mounted  his 
horse,  rode  back  to  Assisi,  and  went  home  to 
his  father's  house  for  a  time.  All  his  com- 
panions wondered  why  he  was  so  changed,  and 
why  he  cared  no  longer  for  all  the  feasting  and 


ST.    FRANCIS   OF   ASSISI. 

(Andrea  della  Robbia.) 


THE   LITTLE   POOR   MAN  141 

revelry  of  former  days.  They  questioned  him 
about  it,  and  asked  whether  he  was  thinking 
of  being  married.  He  answered  that  "  he  was 
going  to  marry  a  nobler  and  fairer  bride  than 
they  ever  saw,  who  shall  surpass  all  others 
in  beauty,  and  excel  them  in  wisdom." 

People  soon  found  out  what  Francis  meant, 
for  he  now  turned  quite  away  from  his  gay, 
thoughtless  way  of  living,  and  gave  himself 
and  all  that  he  had  to  the  love  and  service 
of  God  and  man,  and  especially  to  the 
service  of  the  poor,  the  ignorant,  and  the 
suffering. 

This  was  the  dawn  of  that  wonderful  light  of 
which  Dante  spoke — the  light  of  seraphic  love 
which  burned  in  the  life  of  the  man  we  know 
as  St.  Francis  of  Assisi.  Henceforward  his 
story  is  one  of  absolute  devotion  and  self- 
sacrifice  for  the  sake  of  others — a  picture  of 
the  charity  that  never  faileth.  There  was  no 
gloom  or  moroseness  about  the  religion  of 
St.  Francis.  He  loved  not  only  his  brother- 
men,  but  all  the  glad  and  beautiful  creatures  of 
the  good  God — the  sun,  moon  and  stars,  the 
flowers,  the  running  streams  and  the  still, 
shining  lakes,  and  all  the  birds  and  animals. 
He  always  spoke  of  them  as  his  brothers  and 
sisters,  for,  indeed,  they  and  we  are  all  children 
of  one  Father.  All  these  things  had  a  message 
of  life  and  love  for  him,  as  they  should  have  for 


i42      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN    HISTORY 

us,  and  as  they  had  for  our  own  poet,  Words- 
worth, as  he  tells  us — 

"To  me  the  meanest  flower  that  blows  can  give 
Thoughts  that  do  often  lie  too  deep  for  tears." 

Francis  tried  so  earnestly  to  be  a  real  brother 
to  the  poor  that  he  sometimes  did  things  which 
seem  very  strange  to  us.  For  example,  when 
he  was  once  at  Rome  on  a  pilgrimage,  he  made 
friends  and  companions  of  the  beggars,  and 
changed  clothes  with  one  of  them.  Dressed  in 
the  beggar's  rags,  he  joyfully  sat  down  among 
all  the  poor  in  the  great  square  in  front  of 
St.  Peter's  Church,  and  counted  himself  as  one 
of  them.  We  are  told  that  when  he  went  into 
St.  Peter's  he  wondered  much  that  people 
made  such  small  offerings  at  the  tomb  of  the 
great  Apostle,  and,  as  his  friend  writes,  "  He 
put  his  hand  into  his  purse,  and  drew  it  forth 
full  of  money,  and  flung  it  through  the  grating 
of  the  altar  with  such  a  crash  that  all  they  who 
were  standing  by  did  marvel  greatly  at  so 
splendid  an  oblation." 

Again,  we  hear  how  one  day,  when  Francis 
was  praying  before  the  crucifix  in  the  little 
ruined  church  of  St.  Damian  at  Assisi,  he  heard 
a  voice,  as  it  were  from  the  Crucified  Himself, 
calling  him  by  name,  and  saying  to  him, 
"Francis,  go  repair  My  house,  which,  as  thou 
seest,  is  wholly  falling  into  ruin."     From  that 


THE   LITTLE   POOR   MAN  143 

hour  Francis'  whole  soul  was  melted  with  love 
of  the  Lord,  and  he  hastened  not  only  to  try 
and  repair  that  one  little  church  of  St.  Damian, 
but  to  do  all  he  could  for  the  Church  of  Christ 
everywhere. 

So  anxious  was  he  to  help  the  priest  of 
St.  Damian  to  restore  his  church  that  one 
day,  when  he  had  been  sent  by  his  father  to 
sell  some  bales  of  cloth  at  the  town  of  Foligno, 
he  offered  the  money  he  received  for  the  cloth 
to  the  priest.  Now  the  priest,  very  wisely,  did 
not  accept  the  money,  because  he  felt  that 
Francis  hardly  had  the  right  to  give  it  to  him, 
and  certainly  not  without  asking  his  father 
first.  And,  indeed,  when  Messer  Pietro  heard 
what  his  son  had  wished  to  do,  he  was  very 
angry,  and  shut  him  up,  almost  like  a  prisoner 
in  his  own  house.  Madonna  Pica,  fearing  that 
Francis  would  fall  ill,  persuaded  his  father  to 
let  him  out.  Then  Messer  Pietro  wished  to 
brinQf  Francis  before  the  magistrate  in  order 
that  he  might  be  forbidden  by  law  to  give  all 
this  money  away  to  the  poor.  But  Francis 
refused  to  be  judged  by  any  one  except  the 
Bishop,  and  this  famous  scene  is  painted  on  the 
walls  of  the  Upper  Church  of  San  Francesco 
at  Assisi. 

The  Bishop  exhorted  Francis  to  give  up  all 
money  to  his  father,  showing  him  that  we  have 
no  right  to  spend  what  is  not  strictly  our  own, 


i44      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

even  on  good  works.  Francis  then  declared 
that  he  would  give  up  everything,  even  his 
clothes,  so  that  he  should  possess  nothing  that 
had  been  bought  with  his  father's  money. 
Then  he  renounced  his  inheritance,  and, 
stripping  off  his  clothes,  gave  them  all  back 
to  his  father.  As  we  see  in  the  picture,  the 
Bishop  took  him  into  his  arms,  put  his  own 
cloak  round  him,  and  then  ordered  an  old, 
coarse  artisan  dress  to  be  brought  for  him. 

Thus  did  Francis  give  up  all  his  worldly 
possessions  in  order  to  be  joined  to  his  bride, 
' 'the  Lady  Poverty,"  as  he  and  his  followers 
called  her. 

Francis  at  once  began  the  rebuilding  of  the 
little  church  of  St.  Damian,  labouring  at  it  with 
his  own  hands,  and  promising  to  pray  for  all 
those  who  would  bring  him  stones  to  build 
with.  He  afterwards  repaired  another  tiny 
chapel,  known  as  St.  Mary  of  the  Little 
Portion,  which,  like  St.  Damian,  belonged  to 
the  great  Benedictine  monastery  on  Monte 
Subasio. 

As  you  have  read  about  St.  Benedict  in  an 
earlier  chapter,  you  may  like  to  hear  the  old 
story  of  this  little  chapel,  now  so  celebrated. 

Early  in  the  sixth  century,  when  St.  Benedict 
was  passing  through  Umbria,  he  found  a  lonely, 
ruined  chapel  on  this  spot — a  chapel  which  had 
been  built  by  pilgrims  long,  long  before.     He 


THE  LITTLE  POOR  MAN  145 

restored  the  chapel,  rebuilt  the  walls,  and  made 
the  two  large  doors  we  still  see  there. 

We  are  told  that  one  day,  when  St.  Benedict 
was  praying  in  the  chapel,  he  had  a  wonderful 
vision,  in  which  he  saw  a  great  crowd  of  people 
singing  hymns  and  calling  on  St.  Francis  for 
help.  St.  Benedict  understood  from  this  vision 
that  some  day  a  great  saint  would  be  honoured 
in  that  tiny  chapel,  so  he  made  two  doors  in  it 
in  order  that  the  vast  crowds  could  pass  in  at 
one  and  out  at  the  other. 

The  people  of  Assisi  gave  St.  Benedict  a 
small  plot  of  ground  near  the  little  church, 
whence  it  came  to  be  called  St.  Mary  of  the 
Little  Portion.  After  St.  Benedict  founded  his 
great  monastery  at  Monte  Cassino,  he  sent 
some  of  his  monks  to  live  at  St.  Mary  of  the 
Little  Portion  and  to  minister  to  the  people. 

It  was  in  the  years  1207-09  that  Francis 
worked  at  the  restoration  of  these  two  chapels. 
He  was  now  becoming  so  well  known  and  so 
greatly  loved  that  he  began  to  collect  around 
him  a  band  of  followers,  who  copied  his  self- 
sacrifice  and  devotion,  leaving  everything  in 
order  to  follow  his  example  and  share  his  life. 

The  first  little  company  of  Francis'  followers 
made  a  kind  of  humble  home  at  a  place  on  a 
bend  of  the  river  near  Assisi.  This  place  was 
called  "  Rivo  Torto,"  or  the  "winding  shore," 
like  our  Windsor.  Here  these  first  Franciscans 
10 


146     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

lived,  in  poor  mud  huts,  for  Francis  strictly  for- 
bade any  grand  houses  to  be  built.  As  we  read  : 
"  He  ever  applied  himself  to  holy  simplicity, 
nor  did  he  allow  the  straitness  of  his  abode  to 
cramp  the  breadth  of  his  heart." 

In  1210  the  number  of  the  brethren  had 
increased  to  eleven,  and  now  Francis  drew  up 
a  rule  of  life  which  he  wished  them  to  follow. 

The  brethren  were  vowed  to  Humility, 
Obedience,  and  most  especially  to  Poverty — 
the  Lady  Poverty,  as  they  called  her.  No 
Franciscan  might  possess  anything  except  the 
clothes  he  wore.  Their  houses  and  chapels 
were  to  be  of  the  very  humblest  and  simplest, 
and  even  these  were  not  to  be  actually  their 
own.  Their  services  were  also  to  be  very 
plain  and  simple.  Learning  was  held  of  little 
or  no  account ;  the  chief  aim  was  to  be  detach- 
ment from  all  earthly  riches  and  honours,  and 
a  fervent  love  of  God  and  man. 

The  Order  was  to  be  called  that  of  the 
Friars  Minor,  or  Lesser  Brethren.  The 
members  were  to  preach  repentance,  to  pro- 
claim the  Gospel,  and  to  tend  the  sick, 
especially  the  lepers.  And  they  were  never 
on  any  account  to  be  idle,  idleness  being  the 
parent  of  much  mischief.  Francis  himself  set 
the  pattern  of  this  life  before  his  followers,  and 
when  we  speak  of  the  care  of  lepers,  we  are 
reminded  that   Francis  was  especially  anxious 


THE   LITTLE   POOR   MAN  147 

to  help  and  serve  those  unhappy  people, 
who  were  shunned  by  nearly  all  their  fellow- 
creatures.  Francis  had  a  horror  of  lepers  in 
his  earlier  days,  but  had  made  a  great  effort 
to  conquer  this  shrinking  from  them,  so  that  he 
was  now  able  to  tend  and  cheer  those  poor 
sufferers. 

At  this  time  the  great  Innocent  in.  was 
Pope — "a  glorious  man,  and  one  exceedingly 
renowned  for  wisdom,"  as  the  Franciscan 
writers  say. 

Francis,  with  his  band  of  eleven  followers, 
journeyed  all  the  way  to  Rome,  and  came  to 
the  Pope,  begging  him  to  confirm  the  rule  he 
had  written  for  the  new  Order.  The  Pope 
listened  with  great  interest,  but  he  hesitated 
at  first  about  confirming  the  rule,  thinking  it 
too  hard  for  any  man  to  keep. 

Another  picture  in  that  same  famous  church  at 
Assisi  represents  a  dream  of  Pope  Innocent  111., 
in  which  he  saw  the  great  Lateran  Basilica  at 
Rome,  the  mother-church  of  Western  Christen- 
dom, tottering  to  its  fall  and  being  supported 
by  a  man  in  the  rough  dress  of  a  humble  friar, 
so  that  it  was  saved  from  ruin.  This  dream 
the  Pope  took  to  mean  that  Francis  and  his 
brethren  would  be  a  great  defence  to  the 
Church  of  Christ,  and  accordingly,  when  he 
saw  how  earnest  and  determined  they  were, 
he  consented  to  confirm  the  rule. 


148     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

In  the  year  121 1  St.  Mary  of  the  Little 
Portion — the  chapel  of  which  you  have  read  the 
story — was  given  to  Francis  by  the  Benedictines 
of  Monte  Subasio,  who  begged  that  this  place 
might  always  be  the  chief  home  and  sanctuary 
of  his  Order.  Francis  would  not  accept  the 
property  as  absolutely  his  own,  but  jinsisted 
on  paying  a  yearly  tribute  of  fish  for  it  to  the 
Abbot  of  San  Benedetto.  In  return  for  this 
offering,  the  Benedictines  used  to  give  the 
friars  a  jar  of  oil. 

Francis  and  his  little  community  now  moved 
to  their  dearly  loved  "  Santa  Maria  della  Porti- 
uncula,"  as  it  is  called  in  Italian.  Round  the 
church  were  built  the  humble  huts  where  the 
brethren  lived.  These  huts  or  cells  had  mud 
floors  ;  they  were  built  of  wattle  and  dab,  and 
thatched  with  straw.  All  is  quite  changed 
now.  The  little  chapel  itself,  and  the  cell 
where  St.  Francis  died,  are  now  enclosed  in 
the  great  domed  church  of  St.  Mary  of  the 
Angels.  In  the  "  Garden  of  the  Roses,"  close 
to  the  church,  grow  the  thornless  roses  of 
St.  Francis,  which  replace  the  wilderness  of 
brambles  that  once  was  there. 

Just  about  the  time  that  Francis  and  his 
brethren  began  to  live  at  the  "  Little  Portion," 
something  happened  which  was  of  great  im- 
portance for  the  Franciscan  Order. 

A    young   girl,    who    belonged    to   a    noble 


THE   LITTLE   POOR   MAN  149 

family  of  Assisi,  had  heard  Francis  preach, 
and  had  from  that  moment  determined  to 
take  the  vows  of  the  Franciscan  Order  and 
live  a  life  of  poverty,  hard  work,  and  prayer. 
She  fled  one  night  from  her  father's  palace  in 
Assisi,  and  came,  with  two  terrified  companions, 
to  St.  Mary  of  the  Little  Portion,  where  she 
found  that  the  midnight  Mass  was  going  to  be 
said.  After  the  Mass,  Francis  led  her  to  the 
altar,  cut  off  her  long  fair  hair,  took  her  jewels 
from  her  neck,  and  laid  them  all  on  the  altar. 
She  was  then  clothed  in  the  grey  Franciscan 
habit,  with  a  black  veil  over  her  head,  and 
thus  she  took  her  vows.  This  young  girl  was 
Chiara  Scifi,  known  to  us  now  as  St.  Clara  or 
St.  Clare,  and  foundress  of  the  first  Franciscan 
Order  of  Nuns,  usually  called  the  Poor  Clares, 
or  the  Order  of  Poor  Ladies. 

St.  Clara  was  always  a  devoted  friend  of 
St.  Francis.  She  and  her  nuns  afterwards 
lived  for  some  time  at  St.  Damian,  the  first 
of  the  little  churches  repaired  by  St.  Francis, 
where  there  is  still  a  Franciscan  monastery. 
St.  Clara  and  her  nuns  moved  later  into  a 
convent  in  Assisi  itself. 

A  Franciscan  writer  says  of  St.  Clara  : — 

"She  was   noble  by  family,  but   nobler    by 

grace ;  .  .  .  steadfast  in  purpose,  and  most  ardent 

in  longing  after  the  Divine  love  ;  endued  with 

wisdom,  and  eminent  in  humility  ;  bright  (clara) 


150     STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN   HISTORY 

in  name ;  brighter  in  life ;  brightest  in 
character." 

Many  books  have  been  written  at  various 
times  about  St.  Francis  and  his  wonderful 
life,  and  you  will  probably  read  some  of  these 
one  day.  Here  it  is  only  possible  to  speak 
very  shortly  about  the  rest  of  his  story. 

In  1217  the  brethren  were  sent  out  for  the 
first  time  to  preach  in  foreign  lands,  and  in 
1219-20  Francis  himself  visited  Egypt  and 
the  Holy  Land  in  the  hope  of  converting  the 
Soldan.  But  although  Francis  had  such  extra- 
ordinary power  and  influence  among  his  own 
countrymen,  his  foreign  mission  did  not  succeed, 
probably  because  he  only  knew  French  and 
Italian,  and  could  therefore  only  speak  to  the 
people  by  an  interpreter. 

The  year  1223  was  another  very  important 
time  in  the  history  of  Francis  and  his  Order, 
for  it  was  then  that  Pope  Honorius  m.  con- 
firmed the  Franciscan  Rule  by  what  is  called 
a  Bull — that  is,  a  formal  document  to  which 
the  Pope's  Seal,  or  "  Bulla,"  is  attached.  So 
now  the  great  Franciscan  Order — the  Grey 
Friars,  or  Friars  Minor,  as  they  are  variously 
called — became  fully  authorised  and  recognised 
in  the  Church.  One  of  the  frescoes  in  the 
Upper  Church  at  Assisi  represents  Francis 
preaching  before  Pope  Honorius  in.,  and  this 
picture  is  a  specially  beautiful  one. 


THE   LITTLE   POOR   MAN  151 

And  now  we  must  speak  of  one  of  the 
strangest  and  most  wonderful  things  that 
happened  in  the  life  of  St.   Francis. 

There  is  in  the  Apennines  a  certain  high 
and  lonely  mountain  called  La  Verna,  wild 
and  rocky,  and  thickly  wooded  at  the  top  with 
huge  beech  trees  and  pines.  This  mountain 
rises  just  between  the  sources  of  two  of  the 
most  famous  rivers  of  Italy,  the  Tiber  and  the 
Arno,  and  it  looks  down  upon  a  most  splendid 
and  beautiful  view. 

Mount  La  Verna  had  been  given  to  Francis 
by  a  rich  Tuscan  nobleman,  Count  Orlando 
Cattani  of  Chiusi,  as  "a  secret  place  of  rest 
and  solitude,"  where  Francis  might  meditate 
and  pray  in  peace,  away  from  the  crowds  of 
men  who  flocked  round  him  daily. 

On  August  15th,  1224,  Francis  came  to 
Mount  La  Verna,  as  he  wished  to  prepare 
for  the  Feast  of  St.  Michael  the  Archangel 
by  forty  days  of  prayer  and  fasting. 

He  chose  the  wildest  and  loneliest  part  of 
the  mountain  for  his  retreat.  He  had  taken 
very  few  companions  with  him,  and  no  one  was 
allowed  to  come  near  him,  except  when  Brother 
Leo  brought  him  some  bread  and  water. 
Brother  Leo  used  to  leave  the  bread  and  water 
beside  a  little  bridge  which  had  been  made 
over  a  great  cleft  in  the  rock,  so  that  even  he 
did  not  come  quite  near. 


152      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

On  September  14th,  Holy  Cross  Day, 
Francis,  who  had  been  praying  very  fervently, 
had  a  most  wondrous  vision.  We  will  tell  it 
in  the  words  of  the  great  Franciscan  teacher, 
St.  Bonaventura,  who  says :  "  He  (Francis) 
beheld  a  Seraph,  having  six  wings,  flaming 
and  resplendent,  coming  down  from  the  heights 
of  heaven.  When  in  his  flight  most  swift  he 
had  reached  the  space  of  air  nigh  the  man 
of  God,  there  appeared  betwixt  the  wings 
the  Figure  of  a  Man  crucified,  having  his 
hands  and  feet  stretched  forth  in  the  shape 
of  a  Cross,  and  fastened  unto  a  Cross.  Two 
wings  were  raised  above  His  head,  twain  were 
spread  forth  to  fly,  while  twain  hid  His  whole 
body.  Beholding  this,  Francis  was  mightily 
astonished,  and  joy,  mingled  with  sorrow,  filled 
his  heart.  He  rejoiced  at  the  gracious  aspect 
wherewith  he  saw  Christ,  under  the  guise  of 
the  Seraph,  regard  him,  but  His  crucifixion 
pierced  his  soul  with  a  sword  of  pitying  grief. 
He  marvelled  exceedingly  at  the  appearance 
of  a  vision  so  unfathomable,  knowing  that 
the  infirmity  of  the  Passion  doth  in  no  wise 
accord  with  the  immortality  of  a  Seraphic 
spirit.  At  length  he  understood  therefrom,  the 
Lord  revealing  it  unto  him,  that  this  vision 
had  been  thus  presented  unto  his  gaze  by  the 
Divine  providence,  that  the  friend  of  Christ 
migdit  have  fore-knowledge  that  he  was  to  be 


THE   LITTLE   POOR   MAN  153 

wholly  transformed  into  the  likeness  of  Christ 
Crucified,  not  by  martyrdom  of  body,  but  by 
enkindling  of  heart." 

As  the  vision  faded  away  Francis  felt  in  his 
heart  a  wondrous  glow,  and  when  he  rose 
from  his  knees  he  saw  that  he  bore  on  his 
body  the  marks  of  the  Crucified — in  his  hands, 
feet,  and  side. 

This  is  what  is  meant  by  the  Sacred  Stigmata, 
about  which  you  will  read  in  many  of  the 
beautiful  stories  about  St.   Francis. 

Francis  called  his  faithful  brethren  to  him 
and  told  them  of  his  vision,  but  he  always  tried, 
as  far  as  possible,  to  hide  the  sacred  wounds. 

On  September  30th  he  left  Mount  La  Verna 
with  the  brethren,  knowing  well  that  he  himself 
would  never  return  there.  For  a  long  time 
past  he  had  been  suffering  in  many  ways, 
especially  from  his  eyes  ;  and,  indeed,  his  poor 
body  was  well-nigh  worn  out  with  all  the  toil 
and  hardship  he  had  laid  upon  it.  He  bade 
a  most  pathetic  farewell  to  his  beloved  mountain, 
blessing  it  as  he  turned  to  gaze  on  it  for  the 
last  time. 

Francis  still  went  on  teaching  and  preaching 
for  some  time  after  this,  but  at  last  he  became 
so  ill  and  weak  that  the  brethren  had  to  carry 
him  back  to  Assisi  to  the  humble  Franciscan 
home,  St.  Mary  of  the  Little  Portion,  where 
he  desired  to  die. 


154     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Here,  on  October  4th,  1226,  Francis  of 
Assisi  died,  lying,  by  his  own  special  wish,  on 
the  bare  ground,  faithful  to  the  very  end  to 
his  Lady  Poverty.  "  His  most  holy  spirit 
was  freed  from  the  flesh,  and,  absorbed  into 
the  boundless  depths  of  the  Divine  glory,  the 
blessed  man  fell  on  sleep  in  the  Lord." 

When  the  people  of  Assisi  knew  that  Francis 
was  dead,  they  hastened  down  to  St.  Mary  of 
the  Little  Portion  in  order  to  carry  the  precious 
body  back  to  the  town. 

As  they  returned,  the  long  procession  of 
priests,  nobles,  and  people,  with  torches, 
trumpets,  and  waving  branches,  climbed  slowly 
up  the  hill  towards  Assisi,  passing  on  its  way 
the  little  convent  of  St.  Damian,  where  St. 
Clara  and  her  nuns  were  then  dwelling. 

The  procession  halted  at  St.  Damian,  and 
from  a  little  lattice  window  the  sorrowing  St. 
Clara  and  her  companions  looked  for  the  last 
time  on  the  face  of  their  beloved  father, 
St.   Francis,  as  he  lay  in  his  coffin. 

The  body  was  then  taken  in  great  state  to 
the  Church  of  San  Giorgio  in  Assisi,  where 
it  was  first  buried.  Afterwards,  when  the 
Church  of  San  Francesco  was  built,  the  body 
was  taken  there,  where  it  now  lies. 

Francis  of  Assisi  has  left  behind  him  the 
memory  of  one  of  the  most  Christ-like  lives 
men  have  ever  seen,  and  in  the  year  1228  his 


THE   LITTLE   POOR   MAN  155 

name  was  placed  among  those  of  the  Saints  of 
the  Church  by  Pope  Gregory  ix.  The  great 
ceremony  of  canonisation  took  place  at  the 
Church  of  San  Giorgio,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Pope  himself  and  of  many  cardinals  and 
prelates. 

People  have  sometimes  wondered  what  St. 
Francis,  one  of  the  humblest  souls  that  ever 
breathed,  would  have  thought  of  all  the 
splendour  that  surrounds  his  memory.  We 
must  hope  that  he  would  have  understood  it 
as  an  expression  of  love.  We  cannot  help 
this  thought  coming  to  our  minds  when  we 
remember  that  St.  Francis  liked  to  be  called 
the  "  Little  Poor  Man  of  Christ,"  and  that 
his  one  desire  was  to  serve  God  and  man  in 
simplicity  and  humility.  The  history  of  his  life 
should  always  remind  us  of  what  we  read  in  the 
Gospels,  where  we  learn  that  "a  man's  life 
consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things 
which  he  possesseth,"  and  that  "the  life  is 
more  than  meat,  and  the  body  than  raiment." 

A  short  story  like  this  about  such  a  great 
man  cannot  help  being  very  imperfect,  but 
it  will  have  done  its  work  if  it  persuades 
anybody  to  read  other  stories  and  other  books 
which  set  forth  the  lovely  character  and  life 
of  St.  Francis  in  a  more  deserving  way. 

However,  before  we  leave  St.  Francis  we 
must  tell  something  of  his  wonderful  love  for 


156     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

all  God's  creatures,  and  of  his  marvellous 
power  over  them. 

English  children  are  fond  of  animals,  and 
are  nearly  always  kind  to  them.  They  often 
have  pets  of  their  own — dogs  or  birds — so  the 
love  of  St.  Francis  for  animals,  and  their  love 
for  him,  will  have  a  special  interest  for  those 
for  whom  this  little  book  is  written.  Animals 
seem  to  have  known  in  some  curious  way  that 
they  would  be  safe  with  Francis.  One  story 
tells  how  a  live  leveret  was  once  brought  to 
him,  and  how  it  was  set  down  on  the  ground 
so  that  it  might  escape  whither  it  would. 
When  Francis  called  it,  it  "leapt  with  flying 
feet "  into  his  arms,  and  every  time  it  was 
put  down  on  the  ground  to  escape  if  it  liked, 
it  returned  to  Francis,  as  though,  as  St. 
Bonaventura  says,  "  by  some  hidden  sense  it 
perceived  the  tenderness  of  his  heart."  The 
same  thing  happened  with  a  wild  rabbit  that 
was  brought  to  St.  Francis.  The  timid  little 
creature  fled  from  every  one  else,  but  trusted 
itself  to  Francis. 

We  are  told,  also,  how  one  day,  when 
Francis  was  on  the  lake  of  Rieti,  a  fine,  live 
fish  was  brought  to  him,  "  which  he  called,  as 
he  was  wont,  by  the  name  of  brother,  and  put 
back  into  the  water  nigh  the  boat.  Then  the 
fish  played  in  the  water  nigh  the  man  of  God, 
and,  as  though  drawn  by  love  of  him,  would 


Photo] 


[Anderson. 


ST.    FRANCIS    PREACHING   TO   THE    BIRDS. 

(Giotto.) 


THE   LITTLE   POOR   MAN  157 

in    no   wise    leave    the  boat-side  until    it    had 
received  his  blessing  and  leave." 

Some  of  the  most  delightful  stories  told  us 
by  the  friends  of  St.  Francis  are  about  his 
love  for  birds,  and  the  extraordinary  power  he 
seemed  to  have  over  them. 

One  day,  when  he  was  journeying  through 
the  valley  of  Spoleto,  he  came  near  to  a  place 
called  Bevagna,  where  there  were  numbers  of 
birds  of  all  kinds — doves,  rooks,  and  others. 
Francis,  in  his  fervent  love  of  all  birds  and 
beasts,  ran  towards  these  birds,  which  in  no 
wise  flew  away,  as  might  have  been  expected, 
but  remained  there,  seeming  as  though  they 
had  been  waiting  for  him.  The  saint  was 
very  joyful  at  this,  and  began  to  speak  to 
the  birds  and  to  preach  a  kind  of  sermon  to 
them,  adding  at  the  end,  "  My  brother  birds, 
much  ought  ye  to  praise  your  Creator,  and 
ever  to  love  Him  who  has  given  you  feathers 
for  clothing,  wings  for  flight,  and  all  that  ye 
had  need  of.  God  has  made  you  noble  among 
His  creatures,  for  He  has  given  you  a  habita- 
tion in  the  purity  of  the  air,  and,  whereas  ye 
neither  sow  nor  reap,  He  Himself  doth  still 
protect  and  govern  you  without  any  care  of 
your  own."  The  story  goes  on  to  say  that 
"those  little  birds,  rejoicing  in  wondrous 
fashion,  after  their  nature,  began  to  stretch 
out  their  necks,  to  spread  their  wings,  to  open 


158     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

their  beaks,  and  to  gaze  on  him.  And  then  he 
went  to  and  fro  amidst  them,  touching  their 
heads  and  bodies  with  his  tunic.  At  length 
he  blessed  them,  and,  having  made  the  sign 
of  the  Cross,  gave  them  leave  to  fly  away  to 
another  place.  But  the  blessed  father  (St. 
Francis)  went  on  his  way  with  his  companions, 
rejoicing  and  giving  thanks  to  God,  whom  all 
creatures  humbly  acknowledge  and  revere." 

Again,  when  once  St.  Francis  was  intending 
to  preach  the  Word  of  God  to  a  company  of 
people,  he  could  not  be  heard  for  the  chirping 
and  chattering  of  a  number  of  swallows  that 
were  building  their  nests.  Francis  turned  to 
the  birds,  saying,  "  My  sisters,  the  swallows, 
it  is  now  time  for  me  to  speak  too,  because 
you  have  been  saying  enough  all  this  time. 
Listen  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  be  in  silence 
and  quiet  until  the  sermon  is  finished."  Then, 
to  the  amazement  of  the  bystanders,  the  birds 
became  quite  silent,  and  remained  quietly  in 
their  places  until  the  sermon  was  done. 

We  read  also  of  a  certain  falcon,  who  was 
building  his  nest  up  on  Mount  La  Verna  at 
the  time  when  St.  Francis  was  there  alone. 
The  falcon  made  great  friends  with  St.  Francis, 
and  used  to  awaken  him  by  singing  when  it 
was  the  hour  of  prayer.  When,  however, 
St.  Francis  was  ill  and  weary,  the  bird  did 
not  sing,  as  usual,  in  the  middle  of  the  night, 


THE   LITTLE   POOR   MAN  159 

but  waited  until  dawn,  so  as  not  to  arouse 
Francis  too  soon  from  his  sorely  needed  rest. 

Another  time,  when  Francis  was  ill,  a  certain 
nobleman  sent  him  a  pheasant.  Francis  was 
greatly  pleased  to  have  the  bird,  not  because 
he  wanted  to  eat  it,  but  because  he  was  "  wont 
to  rejoice  in  such  creatures  for  the  love  of  the 
Creator."  The  pheasant,  once  having  come 
into  the  cell  where  Francis  was,  would  not 
leave  him,  but  came  back  and  back  again  even 
after  it  had  been  taken  quite  a  long  way  off, 
and  almost  forced  its  way  into  the  cell  under 
the  tunics  of  the  brethren  who  stood  at  the 
door. 

After  this,  a  physician,  who  was  a  great 
friend  of  St.  Francis,  asked  if  he  might  have 
the  pheasant  to  take  care  of,  and  he  took  it 
home  with  him.  But  the  poor  bird  refused  to 
eat,  and  grew  quite  sad,  as  if  a  wrong  had  been 
done  to  him.  Then  the  doctor  took  him  back 
to  St.  Francis,  and  the  bird  immediately  became 
quite  happy  again  and  "began  to  eat  joyfully." 

One  more  story  about  birds  must  be  told. 
At  one  time,  the  brethren  used  to  feed  some 
red-breasts,  first  the  parent-birds,  and  after- 
wards the  young  ones,  which  the  parent-birds 
had  left  to  the  brethren.  The  young  birds  got 
to  be  quite  at  home  with  St.  Francis  and  his 
followers.  They  used  to  live  in  their  house, 
sit  on  their  hands,  and  would  have  nothing"  to 


160      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

do  with  any  one  else.  But  this  happy  life  was 
disturbed  by  the  greed  of  the  biggest  bird,  who 
was  very  unkind  to  the  smaller  ones,  for,  when 
he  had  eaten  as  much  as  he  wanted  himself,  he 
used  to  drive  the  others  away  from  the  food. 
St.  Francis,  seeing  this,  said  to  the  brethren, 
11  See  what  this  greedy  bird  is  doing.  Though 
full  and  satisfied  himself,  he  grudges  against 
his  hungry  brothers ;  he  will  come  to  a  bad  end 
yet."  No  sooner  had  these  words  been  spoken 
than  punishment  came  upon  the  selfish  bird, 
for  he  went  up  on  a  vessel  of  water  to  drink, 
and  immediately  fell  in  and  was  drowned.  No 
cat  or  any  other  beast  would  touch  the  body  of 
the  bird  afterwards.  The  Franciscan  writer 
adds  that  "horrible  indeed  is  greed  in  men 
when  it  is  thus  punished  in  birds !  " 

Yet  another  story, — a  very  famous  one, — not 
about  birds  this  time,  but  about  a  wolf. 

It  happened  that  the  people  of  the  town  of 
Gubbio  in  Umbria  were  at  one  time  in  great 
terror  of  a  very  big  and  fierce  wolf,  which  had 
appeared  in  their  country,  and  which  used  to 
kill  and  devour  not  only  animals,  but  even 
men. 

When  it  happened  that  St.  Francis  went  to 
stay  at  the  town  of  Gubbio,  he  was  very  sorry 
for  the  people,  and  told  them  that  he  would  go 
out  into  the  country  near  to  meet  the  wolf.  He 
started  off  bravely  ;  his  companions  went  with 


THE   LITTLE   POOR   MAN  161 

him  so  far,  then  got  frightened  and  turned  back 
while  Francis  went  on  alone. 

Presently  the  wolf  appeared,  and  ran  at 
Francis  with  open  jaws.  But  as  he  got  near, 
Francis  made  the  sign  of  the  Cross  over  him, 
saying  to  him,  "  Brother  Wolf,  come  here.  I 
command  thee  in  the  name  of  Christ  that  thou 
do  no  harm  either  to  me  or  to  any  one  else." 
And  behold,  directly  Francis  had  made  the  sign 
of  the  Cross,  the  wolf  shut  his  terrible  jaws,  and 
came  as  meekly  as  a  lamb  and  lay  down  at  the 
saint's  feet. 

Francis  then  began  to  speak    to  him  about 

his  dreadful  cruelty  and  fierceness,  talking   to 

him  something    after    this    fashion :    "  Brother 

Wolf,  thou  hast  done  much  mischief  in  these 

parts,    hunting    and    killing    God's    creatures. 

And    not  only  hast  thou    killed  and  devoured 

beasts,  but  thou  hast  even  dared  to  slay  men, 

who  are  made  in  the  image  of  God.     Thus  thou 

dost   deserve    to    be  hanged  as  a  thief  and  a 

murderer,  and  thus  all  this  country  and  people 

are  thine  enemies.     But,  Brother  Wolf,  I  wish 

to  make  peace  between  them  and  thee,  so  that 

thou  mayest  no  longer  hurt  them,  and  that  they 

may  pardon  thee,  and  men  and  dogs  no  longer 

pursue  thee.     I  will  promise  thee  also  that,  if 

thou  wilt  amend  thy  ways,  thou  shalt  be  duly 

fed." 

The   wolf  then    moved    his    tail,    his   body, 
ii 


162      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN    HISTORY 

and  his  eyes,  as  though  he  made  answer,  and 
consented  to  do  what  St.  Francis  bade  him. 

After  talking  to  him  a  little  more,  Francis 
told  the  wolf  to  give  him  a  solemn  sign  that  he 
promised  no  longer  to  molest  man  or  beast, 
whereupon  the  wolf  lifted  up  his  right  paw  and 
put  it  into  Francis'  hand. 

Francis  then  led  him  into  the  town,  and  there, 
in  the  market-square,  before  all  the  people,  the 
wolf  again  made  the  same  sign  of  his  promise 
to  amend.  We  read  that  the  people  rejoiced 
exceedingly,  and  paid  great  honour  to  St. 
Francis,  who  had  saved  them  from  so  much 
trouble  and  danger.  St.  Francis,  however, 
reminded  them  that  it  was  much  more  important 
for  them  to  flee  from  the  sin  that  could  slay 
the  soul  than  from  the  wolf,  which  could  only 
slay  the  body. 

After  this,  Brother  Wolf  became  a  great 
friend  of  all  the  people  in  the  town.  He  went 
about  from  house  to  house,  and  was  fed,  as 
Francis  had  told  him  he  should  be.  Two  years 
later,  Brother  Wolf  died  of  old  age,  and  was 
mourned  by  all  the  people  of  Gubbio,  because 
when  they  saw  him  going  "about  so  quietly  and 
gently  among  them,  they  were  always  reminded 
of  the  beloved  saint  who  had  tamed  him  and 
taught  him  to  be  good  and  peaceable. 

These  stories,  and  others  like  them  which 
are   told   of  St.    Francis,    remind  us  of  some 


THE   LITTLE   POOR    MAN  163 

beautiful  lines  in  a  poem  which  all  English- 
speaking  children  ought  to  know  and  love — 
Coleridge's  "  Rime  of  the  Ancient  Mariner." 
These  two  verses  seem  as  if  they  might  have 
been  spoken  by  St.  Francis  himself — 

"  Farewell,  farewell,  but  this  I  tell 
To  thee  thou  wedding  guest ! 
He  prayeth  well  who  loveth  well 
Both  man  and  bird  and  beast. 

He  prayeth  best  who  loveth  best 
All  things  both  great  and  small, 

For  the  dear  God,  who  loveth  us, 
He  made  and  loveth  all." 

We  cannot  end  this  story  of  the  "  Little 
Poor  Man '  better  than  by  quoting  his 
beautiful  "Canticle  of  the  Sun,"  written  by  St. 
Francis  when  he  was  lying  ill  and  blind  in  a 
hut  near  the  convent  of  St.  Damian.  This 
song  is  one  of  the  earliest  poems  written  in 
Italian,  and  this  English  version  is  by  our  own 
poet,  Matthew  Arnold — 

"  O  most  high,  almighty,  good  Lord  God,  to  Thee  belong 
praise,  glory,  honour,  and  all  blessing  ! 

Praised  be  my  Lord  God  with  all  His  creatures  ;  and 
especially  our  brother  the  sun,  who  brings  us  the  day, 
and  who  brings  us  the  light ;  fair  is  he,  and  shining 
with  a  very  great  splendour  :  O  Lord,  he  signifies  to 
us  Thee  ! 

Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  sister  the  moon,  and  for  the 
stars,  the  which  He  has  set  clear  and  lovely  in  heaven. 

Praised  be  our  Lord  for  our  brother  the  wind,  and  for  air 
and  cloud,  calms  and  all  weather,  by  the  which  Thou 
upholdest  life  in  all  creatures. 


1 64      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN    HISTORY 

Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  sister  water,  who  is  very 
serviceable  unto  us,  and  humble,  and  precious,  and 
clean. 

Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  brother  fire,  through  whom 
Thou  givest  us  light  in  the  darkness  ;  and  he  is  bright, 
and  pleasant,  and  very  mighty,  and  strong. 

Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  mother  the  earth,  the  which 
doth  sustain  and  keep  us,  and  bringeth  forth  divers 
fruits  and  flowers  of  many  colours,  and  grass. 

Praised  be  my  Lord  for  all  those  who  pardon  one  another 
for  His  love's  sake,  and  who  endure  weakness  and 
tribulation ;  blessed  are  they  who  peaceably  shall 
endure,  for  Thou,  O  most  Highest,  shalt  give  them  a 
crown  ! 

Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  sister  the  death  of  the  body, 
from  whom  no  man  escapeth.  Woe  to  him  who  dieth 
in  mortal  sin  !  Blessed  are  they  who  are  found  walk- 
ing by  Thy  most  holy  will,  for  the  second  death  shall 
have  no  power  to  do  them  harm. 

Praise  ye  and  bless  ye  the  Lord,  and  give  thanks  unto 
Him,  and  serve  Him  with  great  humility." 


VII 

THE  LILIES  OF  FLORENCE 

"The  most  beauteous  and  most  famous  daughter  of  Rome, 
Florence." 

Dante,  Convivio. 

This  story  is  going  to  be  partly  about  that 
famous  and  beautiful  city  of  Florence,  and 
partly  about  the  lives  of  two  of  her  greatest 
sons. 

If  we  want  to  understand  what  Italy  was  like 
in  the  Middle  Ages — and,  indeed,  for  long  after 
the  Middle  Ages  had  passed  away — we  must 
try  to  learn  something  about  her  great  cities, 
especially  the  great  city-states  of  Central  and 
Northern  Italy. 

Now,  Venice  always  stood  rather  apart  by 
herself,  and  we  have  already  spoken  about  her 
history  in  another  chapter.  But  when  we 
come  to  think  about  the  cities  of  Central  Italy, 
we  shall  find  that  Florence  was  by  far  the  most 
celebrated,  and  the  most  important  in  the 
history  of  Europe. 

Florence  is  renowned  not  only  for  her  great 

beauty,  but  also  for  the  interest  of  her  political 

i65 


1 66      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

life,  and  for  the  wonderful  work  done  by  so 
many  of  her  sons  in  art,  literature,  commerce, 
and  statesmanship.  These  things  have  become 
the  heritage  of  all  the  Western  world,  and  we  all 
owe  to  Florence  a  debt  of  undying  gratitude  for 
what  she  has  taught  us  in  these  various  ways. 

A  well-known  writer  of  our  own  day  points 
out  that  what  we  can  see  and  read  of  the  life 
and  history  of  Florence  when  she  was  at  the 
height  of  her  prosperity  and  glory  reminds  us 
of  the  most  brilliant  days  of  ancient  Athens, 
and  he  adds  that  at  the  end  of  the  Middle 
Ages  the  Florentine  Republic  was  like  a  star 
that  lit  up  the  world  around.  And  if  we  want 
to  have  any  proof  of  this,  we  need  only  recall 
the  names  even  of  some  few  of  the  more 
famous  Florentines — such,  for  example,  as  the 
great  poet,  Dante ;  the  painters,  Giotto  and 
Fra  Angelico ;  the  architects,  Arnolfo  di 
Cambio  and  Filippo  Brunelleschi ;  the  sculptors, 
Ghiberti,  Donatello,  and  Luca  della  Robbia  ; 
the  historian,  Macchiavelli ;  and  last,  but  not 
least,  those  two  wonderful  men,  Leonardo  da 
Vinci  and  Michael  Angelo,  who  were  at  once 
architects,  engineers,  sculptors,  painters,  and 
poets.  When  we  think  of  the  mighty  works  of 
art  done  by  these  men,  we  may  begin  to  realise 
what  Florence  has  given  to  the  civilised  world. 

The  city  of   Florence  lies    in  the  beautiful 
valley  of  the    Arno,    that   green    river   which 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  167 

flows  through  the  town,  passing  under  the  four 
famous  bridges,  the  Ponte  alle  Grazie,  the  Ponte 
Vecchio  (or  Old  Bridge),  the  Ponte  Santa 
Trinita,  and  the  Ponte  alia  Carraia.  On  either 
side  rise  the  lovely  hills  of  Fiesole  and  of  San 
Miniato,  which  look  down  on  the  far-famed 
churches,  towers,  and  palaces  of  the  city  herself. 
As  you  gaze  down  on  Florence,  you  may  see 
below  you  the  great  dome  of  the  Cathedral, 
that  splendid  church  dedicated  to  St.  Mary  of 
the  Flower.  It  was  designed  and  begun  by 
Arnolfo  di  Cambio  in  1294,  but  the  dome  was 
built  by  Filippo  Brunelleschi  nearly  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  later. 

Close  to  the  Cathedral,  or  "  Duomo,"  stands 
the  bell-tower,  beautiful  as  a  dream,  planned 
and  begun  by  the  great  artist,  Giotto,  in  1334. 

Near  this  again  is  the  Baptistery,  with  its 
glorious  gates — "  il  mio  bel  San  Giovanni  "  (my 
beauteous  St.  John),  as  Dante  calls  it. 

Not  far  off  is  the  Church  of  Santa  Croce, 
which  we  might  almost  call  the  Westminster 
Abbey  of  Italy  when  we  think  of  all  the 
illustrious  dead  who  rest  there.  In  the  square 
in  front  of  Santa  Croce  stands  the  statue  of 
Dante,  who  rests,  not  in  his  own  city,  but  at 
Ravenna,  on  the  desolate  Adriatic  shore. 

As  we  look  again,  we  may  see  the  Palazzo 
Vecchio  (the  "old  Palace"  of  the  Signoria), 
with  its  soaring,   lily-like  tower ;    and  farther 


1 68     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

away  are  the  square  and  convent  of  San  Marco, 
with  their  memories  of  Fra  Angelico  and 
Savonarola. 

These  wonderful  and  beautiful  works  of  man 
are  framed  by  some  of  the  fairest  scenes  of 
Nature,  so  that  Florence  well  deserves  to  be 
called  "most  beauteous,"  as  Dante  says  of  her. 

The  story  of  Florence  begins  very  long 
ago.  The  old  Florentine  chroniclers  tell  many 
tales  of  her  supposed  foundation — by  the 
Trojans,  or  by  Julius  Csesar,  who,  according 
to  their  accounts,  conquered  and  destroyed 
the  rival  town  of  Fiesole.  It  is  difficult  to 
say  how  much  or  how  little  truth  there  is  in 
these  old  histories,  as  a  great  deal  of  legend 
and  tradition  is  always  mixed  up  with  them, 
but  it  is  generally  believed  that  Florence  was 
first  founded  by  Etruscans  who  came  from  the 
still  older  town  of  Fiesole,  and  who  wanted 
to  have  some  settlement  by  the  river-side  for 
their  trade  and  commerce.  This  Etruscan 
colony  was  very  likely  destroyed  during  the 
wars  between  Marius  and  Sulla  in  B.C.  86-81, 
and  a  Roman  military  colony  was  planted 
in  its  place.  This  colony  was  probably 
founded  while  Sulla  was  Dictator,  and  it  was 
called  Florentia.  It  was  enlarged  by  Csesar 
and  by  Augustus,  and  thus  there  may  be 
some  truth  in  the  old  Florentine  story  of  the 
foundation  of  Florence  by  Caesar. 


THE  LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  169 

The  Roman  Florentia  was  built  on  the  plan 
of  a  Roman  camp,  or  "castrum."  This  word 
"castrum"  is  very  familiar  to  us  in  Britain, 
where  the  Romans  had  so  many  camps,  and 
we  still  hear  the  old  Roman  word  in  the 
names  of  many  of  our  towns,  such  as  Chester, 
Lancaster,  Winchester,  and  others.  The 
Roman  Florence,  then,  was  four-square,  with 
two  creat  streets  which  crossed  one  another  in 
the  middle  of  the  city,  thus  dividing  it  into 
quarters.  In  the  place  where  these  chief 
streets  crossed  was  the  forum,  or  market- 
place. There  were  also  temples,  baths,  and 
an  amphitheatre,  as  in  most  Roman  towns. 
There  was  at  that  time  a  great  temple  to  the 
god  Mars,  who  was  the  patron  of  the 
Florentines,  and  in  this  temple  was  a  statue 
of  Mars.  When  the  Florentines  became 
Christians,  they  took  as  their  patron-saint 
St.  John  the  Baptist,  and  the  present 
Baptistery  is  thought  to  stand  almost  on  the 
very  site  of  the  former  temple  of  Mars. 
The  Florentines,  however,  would  not  allow 
the  statue  of  Mars  to  be  destroyed  or  dis- 
honoured in  any  way,  for  they  still  believed 
that,  if  any  harm  came  to  it,  the  city  would 
suffer  great  misfortunes.  So  the  statue  was 
moved  from  the  temple,  and  placed  in  a  tower 
near  the  river  Arno.  This  tower  is  said  to 
have    been     destroyed    when     the     city     was 


170      STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN   HISTORY 

demolished  by  Totila  and  his  Ostrogoths,  and 
the  statue  fell  into  the  Arno. 

You  will  remember  reading  about  the  brave 
King  Totila  and  his  visit  to  St.  Benedict,  and 
how  the  Goths  were  finally  driven  out  of  Italy. 
The  story  of  the  destruction  of  Florence  by  Totila 
is  supposed  to  be  only  a  tradition,  but  it  is  quite 
true  that  the  Goths  made  themselves  masters  of 
Tuscany  and  of  Florence  just  about  that  time. 

The  legendary  history  goes  on  to  say 
that  Florence  was  rebuilt  by  Charlemagne, 
and  that  when  the  town  was  restored  the 
broken  statue  of  Mars  was  put  back  in  a 
place  of  honour  on  a  pillar  near  a  bridge. 
This  bridge  was  carried  away  by  a  flood  in 
J333'>  the  remains  of  the  statue  went  with  it, 
and  disappeared  for  ever. 

Florence  seems  to  have  been  quite  an  un- 
important place  until  the  time  of  Charlemagne, 
when  it  rose  again  into  a  position  of  power 
in  Tuscany.  Charlemagne  himself  spent  his 
Christmas  there  in  786,  and  the  city  was  often 
visited  by  Popes  and  Emperors — Emperors  on 
their  way  to  Rome  to  be  crowned,  and  Popes 
flying  from  Rome,  where  their  subjects  had 
rebelled  against  them. 

After  the  days  of  Charlemagne,  Florence 
was  for  a  very  long  time  subject  to  the 
Margraves  of  Tuscany.  A  few  words  must 
be  said  about  these  Margraves,  and  how  they 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  171 

came  to  be  ruling  in  Tuscany.  When  the 
fierce  Lombards  had  got  possession  of  a  large 
part  of  Italy, — as  you  remember  they  did  in 
the  sixth  century, — they  placed  a  duke  in  all  the 
chief  cities  they  had  taken  and  occupied.  You 
have  read  something  about  these  dukes  in  the 
story  of  the  Iron  Crown.  The  Lombard  dukes 
were  very  powerful,  and  some  of  them  ruled 
over  quite  large  states.  So  powerful,  indeed, 
did  some  of  them  become,  that  they  rebelled 
against  the  Lombard  king,  and  this  want  of 
discipline  and  loyalty  was  one  of  the  reasons 
that  the  Lombard  rule  in  Italy  did  not  last, 
for  it  was  a  house  divided  against  itself. 

In  the  eighth  century  the  Pope,  as  you 
already  know,  called  in  the  Franks  to  help 
him  against  the  Lombards,  and  the  Franks 
came,  led  first  by  Pepin,  and  then  by  his 
son,  the  great  Charlemagne.  When  Charle- 
magne had  conquered  the  Lombards  and 
made  an  end  of  their  kingdom,  he  put  men 
who  were  called  counts  in  place  of  the  dukes. 
These  counts  were  much  less  powerful  than 
the  Lombard  dukes,  and  ruled  over  much 
smaller  territories.  But  Charlemagne  saw 
that  he  would  have  to  put  very  strong 
defenders  on  the  borders  of  his  empire,  so  he 
formed  larger  states,  which  we  know  as  the 
"Marches"  (from  the  German  word  "  Mark," 
limit,  or  frontier),  and  over  these  Marches  he 


172      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

placed  Margraves  ("  Mark-grafen,"  or  Counts 
of  the  Marches).  Some  of  these  margraves 
or  marquises  became  very  powerful,  and  even 
tried  to  set  up  a  separate  kingdom  of  Italy. 
The  most  important  marquisates  in  those 
early  times  were  those  of  Friuli  and  of 
Tuscany.  The  chief  town  in  the  marquisate 
of  Tuscany  was  then  Lucca,  and  not  Florence. 

About  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century 
the  Marquis  Boniface  in.  was  governing  in 
Tuscany.  He  had  married  Beatrice  of 
Lorraine,  and  their  daughter  was  the  famous 
Countess  Matilda  of  Tuscany,  who  was  such 
a  great  supporter  of  the  Church  and  of  Pope 
Gregory  vn.  You  remember  that  it  was  at 
her  castle  of  Canossa  that  the  terrible  meeting 
took  place  between  Pope  Gregory  and  the 
Emperor  Henry  iv.  One  day,  if  you  go  to 
Pisa,  you  may  see  the  monument  of  Matilda's 
mother,  the  Countess  Beatrice,  in  the  cele- 
brated Campo  Santo.  Matilda  herself  is  buried 
in  St.  Peter's  at  Rome. 

But  we  must  go  back  to  Florence,  which 
in  time  became  subject  to  the  Countess 
Matilda.  She  was  a  great  and  good  ruler, 
and  under  her  wise  government  Florence 
enjoyed  much  freedom  and  prosperity.  At 
times  the  Countess  used  to  come  in  person 
to  Florence,  and  administer  justice  in  the 
forum.      However,  during  her  wars   with   the 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  173 

Emperor  and  his  party,  Matilda  seems  to 
have  allowed  the  chief  citizens  of  Florence  to 
govern  the  city  in  her  name,  and  on  her 
death,  in  11 15,  the  Florentine  Commune 
asserted  its  independence.  The  citizen-nobles 
who  had  acted  under  the  Countess  Matilda 
now  became  the  Consuls  of  the  Commune, 
and  commanded  the  Florentine  armies  in 
war.  Later  on,  the  Head  of  the  Commune 
was  called  the  Podesta.  The  Podesta  had 
always  to  be  a  nobleman  from  some  other  city, 
not  a  Florentine.  The  Commune  of  Florence 
was  Guelf,  but  the  great  Ghibelline  nobles  both 
outside  and  inside  the  city  were  always  trying 
to  get  the  chief  power  and  authority. 

In  one  short  chapter  it  is  quite  impossible 
to  describe  all  the  fights  and  struggles  that 
went  on  in  Florence,  and  all  the  various 
changes  that  took  place  in  her  government. 
We  can  only  tell  very  shortly  how,  after 
many  disputes  among  the  Florentines  them- 
selves, and  after  fierce  struggles  with  the 
Emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa  and  his  grand- 
son, Frederick  11.,  the  first  democratic  constitu- 
tion of  Florence  was  set  up  in  the  year  1250. 
This  was  the  result  of  a  fight  with  the 
Ghibelline  nobles,  who,  with  the  help  of  the 
Emperors  German  troops,  had  succeeded  in 
governing  Florence  for  two  years.  But  when 
the  Emperor  Frederick  11.  died,  in   1250,  the 


i74      STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN   HISTORY 

people  insisted  on  setting  up  a  constitution, 
which  is  called  in  Italian  the  "  Primo  Popolo," 
or  First  Government  by  the  People.  This 
existed  side  by  side  with  the  Commune,  and 
was  headed  by  a  new  officer,  called  the 
Captain  of  the  People. 

The  "  Primo  Popolo "  was  very  successful, 
both  in  the  affairs  of  the  city  and  in  victories 
over  enemies  outside.  It  was  at  this  time, 
after  the  Ghibellines  had  been  driven  out,  that 
the  banner  of  the  Commune  was  changed  from 
a  white  lily  on  a  red  field  to  a  red  lily  on  a 
white  field,  as  we  see  it  now.  It  is  this  well- 
known  and  beautiful  lily  that  gives  its  name  to 
this  story. 

This  government  of  the  "  Primo  Popolo" 
was,  however,  soon  overthrown  in  the  wars 
between  the  Guelf  and  Ghibelline  parties.  In 
1260  a  fearful  battle  was  fought  at  Montaperti, 
near  Siena,  between  the  Florentines  and  the 
Ghibelline  exiles,  who  had  gathered  together 
at  Siena.  The  Florentines  were  defeated 
with  terrible  slaughter,  and  their  precious 
"  Carroccio,"  or  the  Battle-Car  of  the  Republic, 
was  taken  by  the  enemy  and  destroyed.  The 
plan  of  having  a  Battle-Car  was  first  begun  by 
the  Milanese,  and  was  then  imitated  by  the 
other  Italian  communes.  The  car  had  four 
wheels,  and  was  drawn  by  oxen.  Upon  it  was 
planted   a   tall   mast,   to  which  a  crucifix  was 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  175 

attached,  and  from  which  two  standards  floated. 
The  car  was  the  centre  and  the  rallying-point 
of  the  army,  and  it  was  defended  by  the 
bravest  of  the  soldiers.  You  can  thus  under- 
stand how  dreadful  it  seemed  if  the  "  Carroccio  ' 
was  captured  by  the  enemy. 

Dante  speaks  of  this  awful  fight  at  Monta- 
perti,  and  says  that  it  caused  the  river  Arbia 
to  be  coloured  red  with  blood — "  fece  1'  Arbia 
colorata  in  rosso."  After  their  victory,  the 
Ghibelline  party  ruled  in  Florence  for  six 
years  ;  but  after  the  defeat  of  King  Manfred  by 
Charles  of  Anjou  in  1266,  the  Ghibellines  were 
once  more  overthrown,  and  the  Guelfs  returned, 
more  powerful  than  ever  before.  It  was  at 
this  time  that  the  Republic  rose  to  its  greatest 
power  and  glory,  under  the  Government  known 
as  the  "  Secondo  Popolo,"  or  Second  Govern- 
ment by  the  People.  Florence  was  now  the 
chief  power  in  Central  Italy,  and  head  of  the 
Guelf  League. 

It  will  be  a  good  thing  to  go  back  for  a 
moment  to  speak  once  again  about  the  Guelfs 
and  Ghibellines,  of  whom  you  read  in  the  story 
of  the  Popes  and  Emperors.  You  remember 
that  the  Guelfs  represented  the  cause  of  the 
Pope,  and  that  of  the  cities  and  the  Italian 
people  generally,  while  the  Ghibellines  were 
the  party  of  the  Emperor  and  the  German 
feudal  nobility.      In  Florence,  the  chief  reason 


176     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

for  the  constant  fighting  between  the  Guelfs 
and  Ghibellines  was  the  rivalry  between  the 
feudal  military  nobility,  who  were  most  of 
them  of  German  descent,  and  the  commercial 
democracy,  who  were  of  the  old  Latin  race. 
The  disputes  were  much  more  between  these 
two  sets  of  people  than  between  the  strictly 
Papal  and  Imperial  parties. 

The  great  point  to  be  remembered  is  that 
Florence  owed  her  prosperity  and  her  splendid 
position  in  Europe  to  the  successful  struggle 
made  by  her  Latin  people  against  the  foreign 
feudal  aristocracy.  These  nobles  were  the 
descendants  of  the  barbarian  conquerors  of 
Italy,  and  they  owed  their  power  and  place 
partly  to  the  establishment  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire,  of  which  the  head  was  German. 
These  descendants  of  the  foreign  military  nobles 
had  built  their  castles  all  about  the  country 
and  close  round  the  valley  where  Florence  lies, 
so  that  they  were  able  to  interfere  very  much 
with  her  commerce  and  her  freedom. 

Florence  naturally  depended  almost  entirely 
on  the  safety  of  her  trade,  and  it  is  well  to 
remember  what  not  only  Italy,  but  all  modern 
Europe  owes  to  those  great  Merchant  and 
Trade  Guilds  at  Florence.  They  fought  for 
freedom ;  under  their  rule  civilisation  revived ; 
and  every  kind  of  art  and  literature  flourished 
in  a  glory   and   perfection  which   has   hardly 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  177 

ever  been  known  or  surpassed  in  the  history 
of  the  world  before  or  since. 

And,  again,  as  time  went  on,  the  Florentine 
bankers  and  money-changers  had  much  of  the 
business  of  Europe  in  their  hands.  For 
example,  the  kings  of  France  used  to  depend 
on  the  great  Florentine  bankers  to  supply 
them  with  money  for  their  wars,  and  in  1338 
Edward  in.  of  England  owed  an  enormous  sum 
to  the  Florentine  banking-houses  of  the  Bardi 
and  Peruzzi.  An  old  French  historian  tells  us 
that  Edward  iv.  of  England  owed  his  throne  to 
the  help  given  him  by  the  Florentine  bankers. 
This  alone  shows  us  what  power  and  influence 
Florence  had,  far  beyond  her  own  country,  and 
this  power  and  influence  she  owed  to  her  great 
Trade  Guilds  and  merchant  princes. 

When  the  Government  known  as  the 
"  Secondo  Popolo "  arose,  the  chief  Trade 
Guilds  began  to  be  a  real  power  in  the  State, 
and  in  the  year  1282  the  government  was 
placed  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Greater 
Guilds,  or  "  Arti  Maggiori,"  as  they  are  called 
in  Italian. 

These  Greater  Guilds  were  seven  in  number, 
and  were  as  follows :  ( 1 )  The  Dressers  of  Foreign 
Cloth,  famous  by  their  name  of  the  "  Arte  di 
Calimala";  (2)  the  Wool  Merchants;  (3)  the 
Money-Changers ;  (4)  the  Physicians  and 
Apothecaries  (in  whose  Guild  painters  and 
12 


178     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

booksellers  were  included) ;  (5)  the  Silk- 
Merchants  ;  (6)  the  Furriers  ;  (7)  the  Judges 
and  Notaries. 

In  1293  the  constitution  was  made  still 
more  strictly  democratic,  and  a  certain  amount 
of  power  was  given  to  the  fourteen  Lesser 
Guilds.  The  nobles  were  shut  out  from  all 
share  in  the  government,  unless  they  joined 
one  of  the  Guilds,  or  Arts,  and  enrolled  them- 
selves among  its  members.  These  important 
measures  are  known  as  the  "Ordinances  of 
Justice,"  and  they  have  been  described  as  "the 
Magna  Charta  of  Florence."  It  was  at  this 
time  that  the  magistrate  called  the  "  Gon- 
faloniere,"  or  Standard-bearer  of  Justice,  was 
first  appointed.  He  was  so  called  because  the 
great  "  Gonfalon,"  or  Standard  of  the  People, 
with  its  red  cross  on  a  white  ground,  was  given 
to  him  as  his  sign  of  office.  In  later  days,  the 
Gonfaloniere  became  the  head  of  the  Floren- 
tine State. 

Meanwhile,  Florence  was  constantly  at 
war  with  her  Ghibelline  neighhours,  such  as 
the  towns  of  Pisa  and  Siena.  One  of  the 
most  famous  of  these  fights  was  the  battle 
of  Campaldino,  in  1289,  when  the  Tuscan 
Ghibellines  were  crushed  by  the  Florentines, 
who  were  fighting  under  the  banner  of  the 
House  of  Anjou.  This  battle  of  Campaldino 
is  one  of  the  most  interesting  battles   of  the 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  179 

Middle  Ages,  for  two  reasons.  One  reason  is, 
that  Dante  Alighieri  fought  in  it ;  and  the 
other  is,  that  Campaldino  was  almost  the  last 
Italian  battle  won  by  the  old  citizen  forces. 
Soon  after  that  time  the  burghers  of  the 
Italian  city-states  began  to  use  hired  armies 
to  fight  their  battles  for  them.  These  hired 
troops  were  often  largely  made  up  of  foreigners, 
and  were  commanded  by  captains  who  were 
called  "condottieri."  These  captains  were 
really  soldiers  of  fortune,  and  did  not  mind 
very  much  whom  they  fought  for.  We  shall 
hear  some  more  about  these  "condottieri "  in 
another  chapter. 

Unhappily,  the  Florentines  did  not  seem  able 
to  settle  down  peacefully  among  themselves, 
but  terrible  divisions  very  soon  arose  among 
the  Guelfs,  and  they  split  into  two  parties,  the 
White  Guelfs  and  the  Black  Guelfs.  These 
factions  fought  fiercely ;  first  one  side  was 
successful,  and  then  the  other.  At  last,  in 
1 301,  the  French  prince,  Charles  de  Valois, 
was  sent  to  Florence  by  Pope  Boniface  vm.  to 
act  as  peacemaker  between  the  rival  parties. 
But  the  Florentines  very  soon  said  that  no  real 
peace  would  be  made,  for  Charles  de  Valois  did 
not  play  fair,  but  sided  with  the  Black  Guelfs 
against  the  Whites.  The  Black  Guelf  party 
were  victorious,  and  the  Whites  were  driven 
into  exile,  the  poet  Dante  being  among  them. 


180     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

As  this  unjust  and  cruel  exile  was  the  great 
turning-point  in  Dante's  life,  this  will  be  a 
good  place  in  which  to  say  something  more 
about  him. 

Dante  Alighieri,  one  of  the  greatest  poets  of 
all  time,  and  the  most  famous  son  of  that  fair 
city  of  Florence,  which  he  loved  so  dearly,  was 
born  in  1265. 

It  will  help  us  to  realise  what  was  going  on 
in  other  parts  of  Europe  if  we  remind  ourselves 
that  at  this  time  Henry  111.  was  reigning  in 
England  and  Louis  ix.  (St.  Louis)  in  France. 
The  battle  of  Evesham  was  fought  in  this  very 
year,  and  at  that  battle  Simon  de  Montfort  was 
killed.  Henry  iii.'s  glorious  Abbey  at  West- 
minster was  being  built,  and  his  part  of  it — the 
choir  and  transepts — were  not  far  from  being 
finished.  The  Crusades  ended  when  Dante 
was  five  years  old. 

Dante  was  the  son  of  a  notary,  and  belonged 
to  an  old  Guelf  family.  We  know  that  he  was 
fond  of  study,  that  he  knew  a  good  deal  about 
drawing  and  painting,  and  that  he  was  a  great 
lover  of  music.  When  he  was  only  eighteen 
he  was  already  known  as  a  poet,  and  while  he 
was  still  quite  a  young  man  he  wrote  that 
most  lovely  little  book,  the  Vita  Ntiova,  or 
New  Life,  in  which  he  tells  us  about  the  great 
love  of  his  life,  and  how  it  began.  He  says 
that  in   1274,  when  he  was  nine  years  old,  he 


Photo} 


DAXTE    ALIGHIERI. 

(From  the  bronze  in  the  Xational  Museum  at  Naples. 


yBrogi. 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  181 

met  a  beautiful  little  orirl  at  a  house  to  which 
his  father  had  taken  him.  This  little  girl  was 
called  Beatrice,  and  she  was  nearly  a  year 
younger  than  Dante.  We  read  how  Dante 
instantly  fell  in  love  with  her  in  his  childish 
heart ;  how  he  never  forgot  her,  but  loved  her 
more  and  more.  Through  all  the  wanderings 
and  bitter  sorrows  of  his  life,  Dante's  love  for 
Beatrice  remained  his  guiding  star,  until  his 
soul  found  its  way  to  the  very  vision  of  God 
in  highest  heaven.  Some  day  you  must  read 
that  book  for  yourselves. 

But  although  Dante  was  a  student  and  a 
poet,  he  was  no  mere  bookworm  or  dreamer. 
He  took  a  keen  interest  and  an  active  part  in 
the  life  of  his  country,  and  served  her  on  the 
battlefield  and  in  the  council  chamber. 

We  have  just  read  how  he  was  in  the 
Florentine  army  at  Campaldino,  where  he  is 
said  to  have  "fought  valiantly  on  horseback  in 
the  front  rank." 

In  1295  he  entered  the  political  life  of  the  city, 
and,  according  to  the  Florentine  rule,  he  had  to 
enrol  himself  in  one  of  the  Great  Guilds.  He 
chose  that  of  the  Physicians  and  Apothecaries. 

In  1300  Dante  was  elected  one  of  the  six 
Priors,  who  used  to  hold  office  for  two  months 
at  a  time,  and  he  came  in  for  many  troublous 
days  in  Florence,  as  her  liberty  and  independ- 
ence was   being   threatened,    not   only  by  the 


s 


182      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Pope,  but  also  by  the  quarrels  among  her  own 
children,  which  was  worse  than  any  danger 
from  outside. 

Dante  is  thought  to  have  taken  an  important 
share  in  the  government,  and  he  helped  to 
oppose  the  imperious  Pope  Boniface  vm.  and 
the  Black  Guelf  party. 

The  struggle  ended,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
in  the  triumph  of  the  Black  Guelfs,  with  the 
help  of  Charles  de  Valois,  and  in  the  defeat  of 
the  moderate  party,  to  which  Dante  Alighieri 
belonged. 

In  1302  a  cruel  sentence  of  confiscation  and 
exile  was  passed  against  a  certain  number  of 
citizens,  among  whom  was  Dante  himself. 
Thus  did  Florence  drive  out  her  greatest  son, 
and  Dante's  weary  wanderings  began,  to  end 
only  with  his  life. 

After  a  time  he  took  refuge  at  Verona,  at 
the  court  of  the  famous  Delia  Scala  family, 
and  here  he  first  met.  the  young  Can  Grande 
della  Scala,  who  afterwards  became  so  cele- 
brated as  a  soldier  and  general. 

After  the  year  1304,  Dante  spent  some 
time  at  Bologna  and  at  Padua,  where  he  saw 
Giotto  working  at  his  well-known  frescoes  in 
Sta.  Maria  dell'  Arena. 

In  1309  Dante  went  to  Paris,  where  he 
studied  at  the  University.  Some  people  have 
even  thought  that  he  came  to  Oxford,  but  this 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  183 

cannot  be  said  for  certain,  much  as  we  should 
like  to  believe  it.  After  a  short  time  he 
returned  to  Italy,  and  was  at  Lucca  during  the 
rule  of  the  great  Ghibelline  captain,  Uguccione 
della  Faeeiuola.  He  then  went  once  more  to 
Verona,  where  he  was  the  guest  of  Can  Grande 
della  Scala,  and  finally  he  went  to  Ravenna, 
where  he  was  most  kindly  received  by  the  lord 
of  the  city,  Guido  da  Polenta.  This  was  in 
1 3 17.  Dante  lived  for  about  four  years  at 
Ravenna,  occupying  himself  with  teaching  and 
writing,  and  finishing  his  immortal  poem,  the 
Divine  Comedy. 

In  132 1  Dante  fell  ill  on  his  return  from  an 
embassy  to  Venice,  and  died  on  September  14th, 
Holy  Cross  Day.  His  tomb  is  in  a  tiny  chapel, 
close  to  the  Franciscan  church  at  Ravenna,  for 
although  Florence  tried  hard  to  get  possession 
of  his  body,  the  people  of  Ravenna  very  rightly 
insisted  that  it  should  remain  there,  and  not  be 
given  back  to  a  country  which  had  driven  him 
into  exile.  But  now,  happily,  Dante  belongs  to  a 
United  Italy — and,  indeed,  to  the  whole  world. 

Our  own  poet  Shelley  has  told  us  that  "we 
learn  in  sorrow  what  we  teach  in  song,"  and  of 
no  one  is  this  more  true  than  of  Dante  himself. 

What  he  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  restless 
democracy  of  Florence  made  him  learn  the 
value  of  a  strong  and  stable  government,  and 
showed  him  what  an  excellent  thing  a  monarchy 


1 84      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

may  be,  and  how  peace  and  true  freedom  may 
flourish  under  its  protection. 

His  heart-breaking  exile  from  the  earthly 
city  which  he  never  ceased  to  love  did  indeed 
make  him  a  stranger  and  a  sojourner  on  the 
earth.  He  found,  in  his  own  pathetic  words, 
"  how  salt  doth  taste  another's  bread,  and  how 
hard  the  path  to  descend  and  mount  upon 
another's  stairs."  But  this  grief  taught  him 
the  deathless  words  he  has  written  about  "  the 
city  which  hath  foundations  " — that  Jerusalem 
which  is  above,  which  is  free,  which  is  the 
mother  of  us  all,  and  from  which  none  of  her 
children  are  ever  driven  out. 

Perhaps,  if  Dante  had  lived  an  easy  and 
prosperous  life,  he  would  never  have  left 
behind  him  that  great  poem,  the  Divine 
Comedy,  which  has  been  the  comfort  and 
delight  of  so  many  generations  of  his  fellow- 
men.  He  wrote  it,  as  he  himself  tells  us,  in 
order  to  help  all  who  read  it  out  of  the  state  of 
sin  and  misery,  and  to  lead  them  to  true 
happiness.  Such  was  the  poet's  noble  aim 
and  desire.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that 
his  wish  has  been  largely  fulfilled. 

We  cannot  now  speak  more  of  Dante  ;  we 
must  turn  once  more  to  the  history  of  Florence. 
Through  all  the  fourteenth  century  feuds  and 
factions  went  on  in  Florence  itself,  besides 
fights   with  other   cities.     But    in  spite  of  all 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  185 

these  tumults  and  wars,  the  Florentines  found 
time  to  make  their  city  glorious  in  art,  illustrious 
in  letters,  and  victorious  in  war  and  politics. 
Such  a  fullness  of  life  has  been  given  to  very 
few  nations  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  will 
help  us  to  realise  this  if  we  remember  that 
some  of  the  most  splendid  of  the  buildings  in 
Florence  were  erected  during  this  time,  such 
as  the  Cathedral,  Santa  Maria  Novella,  Santa 
Croce,  the  Palace  of  the  Podesta,  the  Palace  of 
the  Priors,  the  beautiful  Loggia  de'  Lanzi, 
Giotto's  bell-tower,  and  others  almost  as  famous. 
This  gives  some  idea  of  what  was  going  on  in 
the  city,  in  the  midst  of  all  the  fighting  and 
disputing  among  the  citizens  themselves  and 
their  conquests  among  neighbouring  cities. 

In  1378,  however,  a  great  change  began. 
It  would  take  too  long  to  describe  all  that  went 
on,  so  it  must  be  told  very  shortly.  A  fierce 
revolt  broke  out  among  the  lowest  class  of 
artisans,  who  were  dissatisfied  and  demanded 
a  share  in  the  government.  They  had  been 
secretly  stirred  up  to  this  revolt  by  a  certain 
wealthy  and  ambitious  merchant,  Salvestro  de' 
Medici,  who  then  held  the  office  of  Gonfaloniere 
of  Justice.  Salvestro  knew  that  the  powerful 
party  known  as  the  "  Parte  Guelfa '  had  con- 
spired to  seize  the  State  and  take  possession  of 
it,  and  he  wanted  to  frustrate  their  plans. 
Although  the  populace  were  successful    for   a 


1 86      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

time,  the  attempted  revolution  ended  with  the 
downfall  of  democratic  government  in  Florence, 
and  the  State  fell  gradually  into  the  hands  of  one 
family,  the  famous  family  of  the  Medici.  The 
Medici  became  the  real  rulers  of  Florence,  first 
as  her  chief  citizens,  and  then  as  Grand  Dukes 
of  Tuscany,  for  more  than  three  hundred  years. 

It  is  not  possible  to  admire  everything  that 
the  Medici  did.  Some  of  them  were  bad  and 
cruel  men,  but  some  of  them  were  men  of 
wonderful  gifts  and  abilities.  By  their  gener- 
ous patronage  of  art  and  letters  they  made 
Florence  the  centre  of  most  of  the  beauty  and 
learning  of  the  Renaissance  ;  by  their  brilliant 
statesmanship,  and  also  by  their  influence  as 
great  bankers,  they  made  her  a  power  in 
European  politics. 

You  will  remember  how,  in  after  years,  two 
daughters  of  the  Medici  house  became  Queens 
of  France,  namely,  Catherine  de'  Medici,  who 
married  Henry  n.,  and  Marie  de'  Medici,  who 
married  Henry  iv.  This  is  very  remarkable 
when  we  think  that  the  Medici  began  simply  as 
Florentine  citizens. 

The  Medici  took  for  their  coat-of-arms  the 
device  of  six  golden  balls  on  a  shield — a  device 
wThich  became  very  celebrated.  Often  did  the 
cry  of  "  Palle,  palle !  '  (balls,  balls!)  echo 
through  the  streets  of  Florence  in  those  days 
of  plots,  conspiracies,  and  fights. 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  187 

The  patron-saints  of  the  Medici  were  SS. 
Cosmas  and  Damian,  who  are  the  patron-saints 
of  physicians  and  surgeons.  You  will  often 
see  these  saints  represented  in  places  and  in 
pictures  connected  with  the  Medici. 

The  most  famous  of  the  Medici  were  (1) 
Cosimo,  called  the  Father  of  his  Country ; 
(2)  his  grandson,  Lorenzo,  known  as  "the 
Magnificent " ;  (3)  Giovanni,  second  son  of 
Lorenzo,  who  became  Pope  Leo  x.  ;  and  (4) 
Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere. 

Cosimo  was  the  first  of  the  family  to  become 
very  powerful.  Of  course  he  was  never  called 
a  prince,  but  he  was  really,  though  not  in  name, 
Prince  of  Florence  and  head  of  the  State.  The 
government  remained  republican  in  form,  but 
Cosimo  found  means  to  get  all  the  power  into 
his  own  hands.  He  raised  men  who  were 
friends  and  supporters  of  his  own  to  positions 
of  power  and  wealth,  and  he  crushed  those 
who  opposed  him  by  fines,  taxation,  or  by 
banishment.  Thus,  although  there  was  not 
much  blood  shed  under  Cosimo's  rule,  many  of 
the  noblest  Florentine  families  were  ruined. 

Cosimo  de'  Medici  made  one  very  important 
change  in  beginning  quite  a  new  kind  of  policy 
in  the  foreign  affairs  of  Florence.  This  was 
the  alliance  which  he  formed  with  Francesco 
Sforza,  Duke  of  Milan ;  and  although  the 
Florentines  hated  this  plan  of  joining  with  the 


1 88      STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Duke  of  Milan,  the  alliance  gave  Florence  great 
power  in  the  political  life  of  Italy. 

Cosimo  was  very  simple  in  his  private  life, 
and  did  not  surround  himself  with  any  princely 
state  ;  it  was  one  of  his  maxims  that  it  was 
unwise  to  excite  the  envy  of  your  fellow-citizens 
by  show  and  extravagance.  He  loved  the 
society  of  artists  and  men  of  letters,  and  some 
of  the  most  famous  painters,  sculptors,  and 
writers  of  the  age  were  his  friends. 

Cosimo  founded  several  of  the  most  beautiful 
Renaissance  churches  or  convents  in  and  near 
Florence,  such  as  San  Lorenzo  and  San  Marco. 
He  also  founded  the  splendid  libraries  at  the 
Convent  of  San  Marco  and  in  the  Badia  of 
Fiesole.  The  famous  Platonic  Academy  of 
Florence,  the  centre  of  the  greatest  learning  in 
Italy  at  that  time,  also  owed  its  foundation  to 
him,  and  he  even  founded  a  hospital  at  Jerusalem. 
Cosimo  de'  Medici  certainly  set  an  example 
of  true  magnificence,  because  he  spent  his 
wealth  on  things  that  did  good  in  the  world 
around,  and  not  on  luxuries  for  himself.  He 
died  in  1464,  and,  by  his  own  request,  his  funeral 
was  quiet  and  simple.  His  grave  is  in  front 
of  the  high  altar  of  San  Lorenzo. 

Cosimo  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Piero,  who 
died  in  1469,  and  then  the  power  of  the  Medici 
family  descended  to  the  two  sons  of  Piero, 
Lorenzo  and  Giuliano,  who  soon  became   the 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  189 

real  lords  and  masters  of  Florence.  In  1478 
their  enemies,  headed  by  a  family  called  the 
Pazzi,  formed  a  conspiracy  against  the  two 
Medici,  whom  they  regarded  as  foes  to  the 
liberties  of  Florence.  Lorenzo  and  Giuliano 
were  attacked  in  the  Cathedral,  where  they 
were  attending  Mass.  Giuliano  was  killed, 
pierced  by  nineteen  dagger-stabs,  but  Lorenzo 
escaped  with  only  a  slight  wound.  The  Flor- 
entine people  took  the  side  of  the  Medici ;  they 
wrought  fearful  vengeance  on  the  conspirators  ; 
and  it  all  ended  in  Lorenzo  becoming  more 
powerful  and  more  secure  in  his  position  than 
ever  before. 

This  Lorenzo  is  always  known  as  "the 
Magnificent,"  and  he  was  really  the  most 
famous  of  all  his  family.  He  ruled  in  Florence 
completely  ;  everything  was  in  his  hands,  and 
by  his  foreign  policy  and  splendid  diplomacy 
he  raised  himself  and  his  family  to  a  princely 
— and,  indeed,  almost  royal — position.  He  was 
treated  as  an  equal  by  the  sovereigns  of  France 
and  Germany  ;  the  Sultans  of  Egypt  and  of 
the  Turks  sent  ambassadors  to  him,  as  though 
he  too  were  a  sovereign,  and  his  influence  in 
Italy  was  very  powerful. 

But  although  Florence  was  now  in  such  a 
brilliant  and  important  position  in  Europe,  her 
life  was  not  so  wholesome  or  so  truly  great  as 
in  the  simpler  days  of  the  old  Republic.     The 


i go     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

citizens  had  no  real  share  in  the  government, 
which  was  entirely  in  Lorenzo's  hands,  and 
they  were  kept  contented  and  amused  by  all 
kinds  of  splendid  shows  and  gorgeous  festivities. 
This  was  very  bad  for  the  character  of  the 
people,  for  they  no  longer  thought  of  their 
public  duties  and  responsibilites,  but  grew 
more  and  more  luxurious,  pleasure-loving,  and 
corrupt,  day  by  day.  Much  of  this,  of  course, 
was  the  fault  of  the  Medici,  who  wanted  to 
keep  the  power  in  their  own  hands  ;  but  in  spite 
of  some  serious  faults,  Lorenzo  was  a  very 
wonderful  man,  and  did  great  things  for  his 
country.  By  his  state-craft  he  managed  to 
keep  peace  and  a  balance  of  power  in  Italy  ; 
by  his  love  and  understanding  of  art  and  learn- 
ing he  attracted  all  the  greatest  artists  and 
scholars  of  the  age  to  his  court. 

Lorenzo  de'  Medici  ruled  in  Florence  just 
when  the  great  revival  of  ancient  classical  art 
and  letters  which  we  call  the  Renaissance  was 
at  its  height.  Florence  was  then  the  very 
centre  of  that  revival,  or  "  Renaissance,"  which 
took  place  mainly  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries. 

Long  before  Lorenzo's  day  people  had  begun 
to  search  eagerly  for  manuscripts  of  the  great 
classical  authors,  both  Greek  and  Latin,  and 
many  treasures  both  of  art  and  literature  were 
being    discovered.      In    the    year    1453    Con- 


THE   LILIES  OF   FLORENCE  191 

stantinople  had  been  taken  by  the  Turks,  and 
the  Eastern  Empire  came  to  an  end.  At  that 
time  many  great  Greek  scholars  fled  from  Con- 
stantinople and  took  refuge  in  other  European 
countries,  bringing  with  them  many  valuable 
manuscripts,  and  bringing,  above  all,  the 
knowledge  of  the  Greek  lan^ua^e,  for  which  so 
many  people  were  thirsting. 

Under  these  new  influences  the  other  nations 
of  Europe  learned  to  look  upon  life  in  a  very 
different  way  from  their  ancestors  in  the  Middle 
Ages.  They  tried  to  copy  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  not  only  in  their  writings  and  in  their 
art,  but  also  in  their  ways  of  thinking. 

The  world  no  longer  seemed  to  them  a 
dangerous  and  evil  place,  as  it  had  done — 
unhappily — to  so  many  people  during  the 
terrible  times  of  the  barbarian  invasions  and 
other  wars.  .  People  now  began  to  take  a  keen 
delight  in  life,  and  perhaps  almost  too  great  a 
delight  in  every  kind  of  beauty  and  enjoyment. 
They  were  sometimes  in  danger  of  forgetting 
that  splendid  art  and  beautiful  literature  will 
not  do  instead  of  a  pure  and  righteous  life, 
which  alone  truly  exalteth  a  nation.  So  we 
find  that  many  people  in  this  Renaissance  time 
were  a  curious  mixture  of  learning  and  refine- 
ment  with  cruelty,  treachery,  and  corruption. 
It  need  hardly  be  said  that  there  were  at  the 
same  time  many  exceptions  to  this   rule,  and 


i92      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

that  there  were  men  and  women  whose  natures 
seemed  pure  and  beautiful  all  through. 

The  thought  of  this  brilliant  age  of  the 
Renaissance  brings  with  it  also  the  remem- 
brance of  another  very  famous  figure  in 
Florentine  history — and,  indeed,  in  all  history. 
This  is  Fra  Girolamo  Savonarola,  who  first 
became  celebrated  on  account  of  the  solemn 
and  awful  warnings  he  uttered  to  the  frivolous 
and  wicked  society  he  saw  around  him. 

Girolamo  Savonarola  was  not  a  Florentine 
by  birth,  although  the  great  work  of  his  life  was 
done  in  Florence.  His  family  originally  came 
from  Padua,  but  they  had  settled  at  Ferrara, 
where  Michele,  the  grandfather  of  Girolamo, 
was  physician  to  the  Duke  of  Ferrara. 

Girolamo  was  born  at  Ferrara  on  September 
21st,  1452,  and  spent  his  early  years  there. 
His  mother  seems  to  have  had  great  influence 
on  his  character,  which  soon  showed  itself  to  be 
keen,  earnest,  and  rather  inclined  to  melancholy. 
Girolamo  was  very  fond  of  serious  study,  and 
cared  not  at  all  for  the  gay  and  brilliant  life  at 
the  court  of  the  d'  Este  princes.  While  he  was 
still  quite  young,  he  became  distressed  and 
disgusted  with  the  carelessness  and  wickedness 
of  which  the  world  seemed  full,  and  he  soon 
made  up  his  mind  to  become  a  monk.  He 
waited  for  a  time,  as  he  knew  his  family  would 
not  wish  him  to  enter  a  monastery  ;  but  at  last 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  193 

he  took  a  firm  resolve,  and  stole  away  from  his 
fathers  house  to  the  Convent  of  San  Domenico 
at  Bologna.  He  wrote  a  farewell  to  his  father, 
telling  him  that  he  could  no  longer  endure  the 
corruption  of  the  world  around  him.  He  bade 
his  father  comfort  his  mother,  and  begged  for 
his  parents'  blessing. 

It  was  in  1475  tnat  Girolamo  Savonarola 
went  to  Bologna,  and  he  remained  there  for 
seven  years,  studying  and  teaching  the  novices. 
These  years  at  Bologna  seem  to  have  been  the 
most  peaceful  and  happiest  time  in  his  life. 
But  for  him,  as  for  all  of  us,  these  happy  early 
years  were  the  preparation  for  the  real  work  of 
life,  which  is  a  sterner  business. 

The  great  Dominican  Order,  to  which 
Savonarola  belonged,  was  especially  a  preaching 
order.  It  had  been  founded  by  St.  Dominic 
in  12 15,  just  after  the  Albigensian  Crusade, 
and  it  was  known  as  the  Order  of  Preaching 
Friars.  Some  day,  perhaps,  you  will  see  the 
famous  and  beautiful  shrine  of  St.  Dominic  in 
the  great  Church  of  San  Domenico  at  Bologna, 
and  perhaps  you  will  remember  about  Savon- 
arola and  his  life  in  that  city. 

In  due  time,  then,  Fra  Girolamo,  as  he  was 
called,  was  sent  forth  to  preach,  and  in  1481  he 
began  his  wonderful  work  of  preaching  in  his 
native  town,  Ferrara. 

In     1482    he    was    sent    to    Florence,    and 
r3 


i94      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

entered  the  Dominican  Convent  of  San  Marco, 
where  he  was  appointed  reader  in  Holy 
Scripture  to  the  convent. 

The  Church  and  Convent  of  San  Marco  were 
just  outside  Florence.  The  convent  was  given 
to  the  Dominicans  at  the  time  of  Cosimo  de' 
Medici,  who  paid  almost  entirely  for  rebuilding 
it.  This  rebuilding  took  place  between  the 
years  1437  and  1452.  San  Marco,  although 
no  longer  a  convent,  is  one  of  the  most  in- 
teresting places  in  Florence.  The  cloister  and 
the  cells  are  decorated  with  many  famous 
and  beautiful  frescoes  by  Fra  Angelico,  Fra 
Bartolommeo,  and  other  painters.  In  the 
Chapter  House  is  Fra  Angelico's  splendid 
picture  of  the  Crucifixion,  which  every  one 
ought  to  know.  The  cells  where  Savonarola 
lived  may  still  be  seen,  and  various  things 
which  belonged  to  him  are  still  kept  there, 
such  as  his  crucifix,  his  books,  manuscripts, 
and  his  friar's  dress. 

Savonarola's  first  sermons  at  Florence  were 
preached  during  the  Lent  of  1482,  when  he 
had  been  appointed  Lenten  preacher  at  San 
Lorenzo.  We  are  told  that  at  first  people 
hardly  listened  to  him,  because  his  sermons 
were  not  in  the  polished  and  flowery  style  that 
was  so  much  admired  in  those  days,  and  which 
the  Florentines  were  accustomed  to  hear  in  the 
pulpit. 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  195 

Savonarola  was  then  sent  to  preach  in 
various  towns  of  Tuscany  and  Lombardy,  and 
this  journeying  lasted  altogether  for  about 
seven  years,  as  he  did  not  return  to  Florence 
until  1489. 

It  was  during  these  years  of  preaching  in 
the  different  towns  of  Italy  that  Savonarola 
began  to  feel  that  he  had  truly  a  Divine 
message  to  deliver.  He  seemed  to  have  some 
special  vision  of  all  the  woes  that  were  coming 
upon  Italy  as  a  punishment  for  the  corrupt  and 
wicked  life  that  so  many  people  were  leading. 
At  San  Gemignano  and  at  Brescia  he 
preached  wonderful  sermons,  in  which  he  re- 
buked the  sins  of  the  people  and  foretold  the 
misery  and  desolation  that  was  coming  upon 
the  land.  In  1489  Savonarola  came  back 
to  Florence  and  took  up  his  former  work 
as  instructor  at  San  Marco.  He  soon  began 
to  preach  also,  and  such  crowds  came  to  hear 
him  that  he  had  to  remove  from  San  Marco 
to  the  Duomo  in  order  to  make  room  for  the 
large  congregations  who  came  to  listen  to 
the  man  who  had  now  become  the  most  famous 
preacher  in  Italy. 

There  have  been  many  interesting  books 
written  about  Savonarola,  and  what  we  have 
to  say  of  him  here  can  only  be  very  short  and 
simple  indeed.  About  his  great  sermons  we 
must  remember  that  in  them  he  attacked  these 


196      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

three  chief  things,  namely,  the  corrupt  govern- 
ment of  the  Church,  the  wicked  and  ex- 
travagant life  led  by  many  of  the  Florentines, 
and  the  unlawful  and  mischievous  government 
of  Florence  by  the  Medici  family,  whom  he 
looked  upon  as  tyrants.  His  fiery  words  about 
the  Florentines  now  being  slaves  reminded 
many  of  them  of  their  ancient  love  of  freedom 
and  of  their  grand  Republic,  and  this  was  one 
reason  that  Savonarola  had  such  power  over 
large  numbers  of  the  people.  Men's  minds 
were  deeply  stirred  by  his  teaching  and  preach- 
ing, and  his  influence  grew  day  by  day. 

In  1 49 1  Savonarola  was  made  Prior  of 
San  Marco.  The  next  year  something  very 
important  happened  in  the  history  of  Florence, 
and  that  was  the  death  of  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent.  There  is  a  famous  story  which 
tells  how  Lorenzo,  as  he  lay  on  his  death-bed 
at  his  villa  near  Florence,  sent  for  Savonarola, 
and  made  confession  to  him  of  certain  sins  he 
had  committed.  Savonarola,  it  is  said,  assured 
him  of  mercy  and  forgiveness  if  he  would  do 
these  three  things  :  First,  that  he  should  put 
all  his  faith  in  God's  mercy ;  secondly,  that 
he  should  restore  his  ill-gotten  gains ;  and, 
thirdly,  that  he  should  give  back  liberty  to 
Florence.  Lorenzo  said  he  would  fulfil  the 
first  two  conditions,  but  when  he  heard  the 
third,    which   meant    that    the    Medici    family 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  197 

should  no  longer  rule  in  Florence,  the  dying  man 
turned  away  and  answered  nothing.  Savonarola 
left  him  without  giving  him  absolution. 

This  story  was  told  and  believed  by  many 
people  at  the  time,  though  all  do  not  give 
quite  the  same  account  of  what  happened. 
Still,  it  is  quite  true  that  Lorenzo  sent  specially 
for  Fra  Girolamo,  and  this  shows  what  respect 
and  admiration  he  must  have  had  for  him. 

Lorenzo  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Piero, 
a  wild  and  foolish  young  man,  who  soon  began 
to  undo  his  father's  work.  Savonarola,  on  the 
contrary,  became  more  and  more  powerful,  and 
had  great  influence  in  bringing  about  changes 
even  in  the  government  itself.  Some  people 
have  thought  it  was  a  pity  that  Savonarola 
mixed  up  politics  with  his  teaching,  but  it  was 
not  easy  for  him  to  avoid  doing  this,  as  he 
believed  that  the  government  of  the  Medici 
was  bad  for  the  character  of  the  Florentine 
people,  and  that  they  had  learned  all  kinds  of 
vice  and  wickedness  under  the  Medici  rule. 

Still,  it  is  plain  that  Savonarola  was  not  so 
well  able  to  judge  in  matters  of  state  as  in 
matters  of  religion  and  conduct,  and  his  strong 
political  opinions  led  him  to  do  some  unwise 
things — things  which  were  really  the  cause  of 
his  terrible  end. 

For  instance,  he  was  so  anxious  to  destroy 
the  rule   of  the    Medici    in    Florence    that   he 


198     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

encouraged  and  rejoiced  in  the  invasion  of  Italy 
by  Charles  vin.  of  France  in  1494,  thinking 
that  by  this  means  Florence  would  be  set 
free  from  tyranny  and  purified  from  her 
wickedness.  He  did  not  realise  how  Italy 
would  be  rent  asunder  by  the  ambition,  greed, 
and  cruelty  of  foreign  armies,  and  how  in  the 
end  all  her  liberties  would  be  destroyed. 

We  shall  hear  more  of  Charles  vin.  and  of 
what  the  French  called  "the  Italian  wars" 
in  another  chapter.  Here  we  need  only  say 
that  what  King  Charles  vin.  chiefly  wanted 
to  do  was  to  reconquer  the  kingdom  of  Naples 
for  the  French,  and  to  take  it  away  from  the 
House  of  Aragon.  He  was  encouraged  in  this 
by  the  invitation  of  Ludovico  Sforza,  Duke 
of  Milan,  who  asked  him  to  come  across  the 
Alps  to  overthrow  the  Princes  of  Aragon. 
The  Duke  of  Milan  should  have  known  better 
than  help  to  bring  a  foreign  army  into  Italy, 
but  he  was  thinking  only  of  his  own  position. 
Now,  just  at  this  time  most  of  the  people  of 
Florence  had  determined  to  shake  off  the  yoke 
of  the  Medici,  and  to  restore  the  ancient 
republican  rights  and  liberties.  Savonarola, 
who  had  constantly  foretold  that  some  great 
power  should  arise  to  punish  Italy  and  to 
reform  the  Church,  pointed  to  the  invasion 
of  the  French  as  a  fulfilment  of  this  prophecy. 
"  Behold, "  he  said,  "the  sword  has  descended, 


Photo] 


[Alinari. 


STATUE    OF   SAVONAROLA. 
(Palazzo  Vecchio,  Florence.) 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  199 

the  scourge  has  fallen,  the  prophecies  are  being 
fulfilled  ;  behold,  it  is  the  Lord  who  is  leading 
on  these  armies." 

The  Florentines  now  decided  to  expel  the 
Medici,  and  at  the  same  time  they  sent  ambass- 
adors to  the  French  king,  hoping  that  he  would 
support  the  cause  of  the  Republic.  Among 
these  ambassadors  was  Savonarola  himself. 

In  November,  1494,  the  Medici  fled,  and 
a  few  days  after  their  flight  Charles  viii. 
entered  Florence  in  great  pomp  and  state,  with 
all  his  gorgeous  French  knights,  his  Swiss 
infantry,  German  cavalry,  and  huge  Scottish 
bowmen,  some  ten  thousand  men  in  all. 

Charles  viii.  was  rather  boastful  and 
adventurous,  and  not  a  man  of  really  great 
ability  or  character.  Thus  he  somewhat  dis- 
appointed the  Florentines.  Nevertheless,  after 
some  hesitations  and  squabblings,  it  was 
arranged  that  the  King  and  the  Republic 
should  make  an  alliance,  and  that  Charles 
should  be  called  "  Restorer  and  Protector  of 
the  Liberties  of  Florence."  He  was  to  receive 
a  large  sum  of  money,  and  the  Medici  were 
to  be  banished  from  Tuscany.  The  name  of 
the  brave  man  who  stood  up  for  the  liberty 
of  Florence  ought  to  be  remembered.  It  was 
Piero  Capponi.  Even  the  French  king,  with 
all  his  army,  could  not  get  the  better  of  Capponi's 
courage  and  honesty. 


200     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

At  last,  after  staying  much  longer  than  he 
was  wanted,  King  Charles  and  his  soldiers  left 
Florence,  on  their  way  to  Naples,  taking  with 
them  everything  of  value  they  could  lay  hands 
on,  including  many  rare  and  beautiful  treasures 
collected  by  Cosimo  and  Lorenzo  de'  Medici. 

After  the  departure  of  the  French  and  the 
re-establishment  of  the  Republic,  Savonarola 
became  the  real  leader  of  the  State,  and  the 
form  of  government  was  planned  chiefly  accord- 
ing to  his  advice.  Savonarola's  own  particular 
followers  were  known  as  the  "  Piagnoni,"  or 
''Weepers,"  because  of  their  grave  and  strict 
manner  of  life.  They  were  very  active  in 
trying  to  purify  the  public  and  private  life  of 
Florence,  and  they  went  so  far  as  to  burn  such 
books,  pictures,  and  ornaments  as  they  believed 
might  do  harm  to  people.  This  was  called 
(<  the  Burning  of  the  Vanities."  Savonarola 
used  also  to  send  bands  of  children  round  the 
city,  and  these  children  were  taught  to  beg  the 
people  to  give  up  their  evil  ways  and  to  sacrifice 
their  costly  and  luxurious  adornments. 

Savonarola  insisted  that  Jesus  Christ  was 
the  rightful  King  of  Florence,  and  there  were 
processions  through  the  streets  in  honour  of 
Christ  and  His  mother,  and  the  people  sang 
hymns  and  praises. 

But,  as  we  can  well  understand,  there 
were  many   people  in    Florence   who   disliked 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  201 

Savonarola  and  his  followers.  Some  wanted 
the  Medici  back  again ;  others  hated  the 
stricter  and  graver  kind  of  life  which  pre- 
vented them  from  enjoying  themselves  in  their 
old,  frivolous  way.  Savonarola  thus  had  bitter 
and  powerful  enemies,  not  only  in  Florence, 
but  also  at  Rome. 

The  Pope  at  that  time  was  called  Alexander 
vi.  His  family  name  was  Borgia — a  name 
which  reminds  us  of  some  of  the  most  dreadful 
things  in  Italian  history.  In  1495  tne  Pope 
formed  a  league,  which  was  called  the  Italian 
League,  for  the  purpose  of  driving  the  French 
out  of  Italy.  This  League  was  joined  by 
Venice  and  by  the  Duke  of  Milan,  who  had 
now  changed  his  mind  about  the  French.  It 
was  also  supported  by  the  Emperor  Maximilian 
and  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  of  Spain. 

The  Pope  was  naturally  very  angry  with 
Savonarola  for  taking  the  part  of  the  French 
and  opposing  the  League.  Moreover,  he  would 
also  have  liked  to  see  the  Medici  restored  to 
power,  and  tried  hard  to  get  Florence  to  join 
the  League.  After  a  time,  therefore,  the  Pope 
forbade  Savonarola  to  preach,  and  at  last  ex- 
communicated him. 

Savonarola,  meanwhile,  had  always  been 
speaking  with  the  greatest  severity  about  the 
corruption  of  the  Church.  After  the  excom- 
munication he  kept  silence  for   a  short  time, 


202      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

and  then  he  defied  the  Pope,  and  began  to 
preach  as  before.  He  fiercely  denounced 
Alexander  vi.,  declaring  that  he  was  not  a 
rightful  pope,  as  he  had  obtained  the  Papacy 
by  unworthy  means  ;  and  he  went  on  to  utter  a 
kind  of  threat,  meaning  that  he  would  rouse 
the  princes  of  Christendom  to  summon  a 
General  Council  of  the  Church  in  order  to 
depose  Pope  Alexander. 

And,  indeed,  Savonarola  had  already  been 
in  communication  with  the  Duke  of  Ferrara, 
hoping  to  bring  about  a  new  French  invasion 
of  Italy,  for  he  seemed  still  to  believe  that  the 
French  king  would  help  and  support  him  in  the 
reformation  of  Florence.  So  determined  was 
he,  that  he  began  writing  letters  to  important 
people  in  various  other  countries,  intending  to 
stir  up  the  question  of  this  General  Church 
Council.  One  of  these  letters  was  intercepted 
by  a  servant  of  the  Duke  of  Milan  and  sent  to 
the  Pope.  This  really  sealed  Savonarola's  fate, 
although  the  actual  end  came  about  in  a  rather 
sudden  and  unexpected  way. 

For  years  past  Savonarola  had  constantly 
spoken  as  if  he  believed  himself  to  possess 
prophetic  and  almost  miraculous  powers.  His 
words  seemed  to  mean  that  he  thought  these 
powers  had  been  granted  to  him  from  Heaven 
in  order  that  he  might  use  them  for  the  puri- 
fication  of  the  society  around  him.     On  one 


THE   LILIES  OF  FLORENCE  20-, 


j 


occasion  he  had  almost  said  that  he  might  one 
day  work  a  miracle. 

His  enemies  were  not  slow  to  use  his  own 
words  against  him.  The  Franciscans,  who 
had  always  been  unfriendly  to  him,  planned 
a  way  in  which  they  thought  they  might 
catch  him.  A  certain  Franciscan  friar,  Fra 
Francesco,  had  a  fierce  controversy  with  one 
of  Savonarola's  most  ardent  followers,  Fra 
Domenico,  and  at  last  the  Franciscan 
challenged  Fra  Domenico  to  pass  through 
the  fire  with  him,  and  thus  to  decide  which 
one  of  them  was  in  the  right.  The  question 
between  them  was  whether  Savonarola  really 
possessed  the  power  of  prophesying  which  he 
appeared  to  claim. 

Accordingly,  it  was  solemnly  arranged,  with 
the  consent  of  the  Government,  that  the  famous 
"  Ordeal  by  Fire "  should  take  place  in  the 
Piazza  on  April  7th,  1498.  The  Franciscans 
first  arrived,  and  then  came  Savonarola  with 
his  Dominicans,  in  procession,  chanting  the 
67th  Psalm  and  carrying  a  crucifix  aloft. 
Meanwhile,  the  Piazza  was  crowded  with  armed 
soldiers,  and  with  the  people  who  had  come  to 
see  the  sight.  A  great  pyre  had  been  set  up, 
through  which  there  was  a  narrow  passage. 
As  the  friars  entered,  the  fuel  was  to  be  set  on 
fire  behind  them. 

The  champions  stood  forth,  but  one  objection 


204      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

after  another  was  made,  causing  delay  upon 
delay,  and  at  last  a  tremendous  storm  of  rain 
came  on,  drenching  everything  around  and 
making  the  ordeal  impossible.  Evening  came, 
and  both  parties  were  ordered  home  by  the 
authorities.  The  people  were  furious ;  they 
turned  quite  against  Savonarola  and  his  party, 
who  were  only  saved  by  the  soldiers  from 
being  torn  in  pieces. 

The  next  day  the  Church  and  Convent  of 
San  Marco  were  fiercely  attacked  by  an  angry 
mob,  and,  in  spite  of  Savonarola's  entreaties, 
the  friars  could  not  be  restrained  from  defend- 
ing themselves  by  arms.  At  last  a  message 
came  from  the  Signory,  ordering  Savonarola 
and  his  two  faithful  friends,  Fra  Domenico  and 
Fra  Silvestro,  to  go  to  the  Palazzo.  They 
gave  themselves  up,  and  were  taken  off  to 
prison,  amid  the  howls  and  insults  of  the  mob. 

Savonarola  was  accused  of  various  offences, 
among  them  being  his  correspondence  with 
foreign  princes  and  his  rebellion  against  the 
Pope.  The  three  prisoners  were  tortured  in 
order  to  make  them  confess,  and  the  Signory 
were  very  anxious  that  Savonarola  should  deny 
his  Divine  mission.  However,  in  spite  of  the 
torture,  there  is  no  good  evidence  that  he  did  this. 

The  three  friars  were  finally  condemned  to 
death.  They  were  to  be  hanged,  and  their 
bodies  were  to  be  burned.     On  May  23rd,  1498, 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  205 

Savonarola  and  his  followers  were  brought  out 
of  their  prison  into  the  square,  where  the 
scaffold  had  been  set  up.  Their  friars'  dress 
was  stripped  off  them,  and  they  were  degraded 
by  the  Bishop  of  Vasona.  The  bishop,  as  he 
degraded  Savonarola,  said  to  him,  "  I  separate 
thee  from  the  Church  militant  and  triumphant," 
to  which  Fra  Girolamo  made  his  famous  reply, 
"  Militant,  not  triumphant,  for  that  rests  not 
with  you." 

Then  the  execution  took  place.  The  friars 
were  hanged  in  chains  from  the  great  gallows  ; 
the  fire  was  lighted  beneath,  and  blazed  up. 
A  few  charred  bones  were  soon  all  that  was 
left  of  the  bodies,  and  the  ashes  were  thrown 
into  the  Arno  by  order  of  the  Government. 
Some  of  Savonarola's  devoted  followers,  in- 
cluding some  noble  Florentine  ladies,  collected 
any  remains  that  floated  on  the  river,  and  kept 
them  as  precious  relics  of  the  teacher  they  had 
so  loved  and  revered. 

Whatever  mistakes  Savonarola  may  have 
made,  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  was  a  brave 
and  saintly  man,  who  dared  to  rebuke  wicked- 
ness in  high  places  without  fear  of  the  con- 
sequences to  himself,  and  whose  one  aim  was 
the  political,  moral,  and  religious  salvation  of 
Florence. 

After  Savonarola's  martyrdom,  as  we  may 
almost  call  it,  it  seemed  as  if  many  of  the  things 


206      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

he  had  prophesied  came  to  pass  almost  at  once. 
The  French  came  into  Milan  ;  the  Spaniards 
occupied  Naples;  in  1527  Rome  suffered — 
at  the  hands  of  the  Emperor  Charles  v.'s 
Spanish  and  German  troops — the  most  cruel 
and  horrible  sack  she  had  ever  endured  during 
all  her  history.  Italy  now  fell  into  the  hands 
of  Austria  and  Spain,  and  all  her  brilliant 
Renaissance  life  was  crushed. 

As  to  Florence  herself.  The  Medici  returned 
in  15 1 2,  brought  back  by  the  Spaniards  after 
a  terrible  sack  and  massacre  at  the  town  of 
Prato,  close  to  Florence.  In  1527  the  Floren- 
tines again  drove  the  Medici  out,  and  set  up 
the  Republic  once  more.  This,  as  we  have 
just  said,  was  the  year  of  the  awful  sack  of 
Rome  by  the  army  of  the  Emperor  Charles  v. 
The  Pope  at  this  time  was  called  Clement  vn., 
and  he  was  one  of  the  Medici  family.  After 
the  sack  of  Rome  and  all  the  insults  offered 
to  the  Pope  by  the  foreign  soldiery,  there 
was  a  reconciliation  between  the  Pope  and  the 
Emperor,  and  they  agreed  upon  one  thing, 
namely,  to  destroy  the  liberties  of  Florence  and 
to  bring  back  the  Medici.  Therefore,  in  1529, 
the  Papal  and  Imperial  armies  laid  siege  to 
Florence,  and  the  unhappy  city  endured  the 
miseries  of  a  siege  for  nearly  two  years.  In 
1530  she  surrendered,  partly  through  the  treach- 
ery of  her  own  commander,  Malatesta  Baglioni. 


THE   LILIES   OF   FLORENCE  207 

Thus  did  the  noble  and  glorious  Republic  of 
Florence  come  to  an  end  at  last. 

The  Emperor  Charles  v.  and  Pope 
Clement  vii.  now  set  up  a  certain  Alessandro 
de'  Medici,  who  was  descended  from  a  younger 
branch  of  the  family,  and  made  him  hereditary 
ruler  of  Florence.  Alessandro  was  a  bad  man 
and  a  tyrant.  He  was  assassinated,  in  1537, 
by  one  of  his  own  relations,  a  certain  Lorenzo, 
who  fled  after  the  murder,  and  died  in  Venice 
some  years  later. 

Duke  Alessandro  was  succeeded  by  his 
kinsman,  Cosimo,  son  of  the  famous  Giovanni 
delle  Bande  Nere,  of  whom  you  will  read 
more  in  another  chapter.  This  Cosimo  was 
a  very  able,  but  very  cruel,  man,  and  under 
his  government  Florence  quite  lost  her  ancient 
liberties.  He  became  the  first  Grand  Duke 
of  Tuscany,  and  his  descendants  reigned  in 
Tuscany  for  two  hundred  years.  The  Medici 
dynasty  m  ended  with  the  Grand  Duke  Gian 
Gastone  in  1737.  You  may  see  a  most  ex- 
traordinary bust  of  this  man  in  the  Uffizi 
Gallery.  It  shows  what  foolish  manner  of 
person  he  must  have  been. 

Before  we  say  farewell  to  the  Medici 
altogether,  we  must  turn  for  a  moment  to 
speak  of  their  wonderful  monuments  in  the 
Church  of  San  Lorenzo,  which  are  some  of 
most   beautiful   things   in    Florence.       It    has 


208      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

already  been  mentioned  that  the  elder  Cosimo 
was  buried  in  front  of  the  high  altar  of  this 
Church  of  San  Lorenzo,  and  a  plain  marble 
slab  was  placed  over  his  grave.  Cosimo's  sons, 
Piero  and  Giovanni,  are  also  buried  in  San 
Lorenzo,  and  so  are  his  grandsons,  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent  and  Giuliano.  The  bodies  of  these 
two  last  were  moved  into  the  New  Sacristy, 
which  was  built  by  Michael  Angelo  for  Pope 
Clement  vn.,  and  finished  in  1524.  Piero  and 
Giovanni  are  buried  in  the  Old  Sacristy,  which 
was  built  for  their  father,  Cosimo,  and  their 
simple  and  beautiful  tomb  is  there. 

In  the  New  Sacristy  there  were  to  have 
been  four  monuments,  but  only  two  were 
actually  set  up.  These  very  famous  monu- 
ments are  the  work  of  Michael  Angelo,  and  are 
to  a  younger  Lorenzo,  who  was  called  Duke 
of  Urbino  (father  of  Catherine  de'  Medici, 
Queen  of  France),  and  a  younger  Giuliano, 
Duke  of  Nemours.  These  monuments  are 
celebrated  not  only  for  the  fine  statues  which 
represent  the  two  dukes,  but  more  especially 
for  the  splendid  figures  below  each  of  these 
statues.  Beneath  Lorenzo  are  the  figures  of 
Dawn  and  Twilight ;  beneath  Giuliano  are 
those  of  Day  and  Night. 

Under  the  figure  of  Night,  who  seems  tortured 
in  her  dreams,  Michael  Angelo  has  written  his 
wonderful  and  bitter  lines — 


THE   LILIES  OF   FLORENCE  209 

"  Grato  mi  e  il  sonno,  e  piu  l'esser  di  sasso, 
Mentre  che  il  danno  e  la  vergogua  dura  ; 
Non  veder,  non  sentir,  m'e  gran  ventura  ; 
Pero  non  mi  destar ;  deh,  parla  basso  ! " 

("  Dear  is  my  sleep,  but  more  to  be  mere  stone, 
So  long  as  ruin  and  dishonour  reign  ; 
To  hear  naught,  to  feel  naught,  is  my  great  gain  ; 
Then  wake  me  not ;  speak  in  an  undertone.") 

{Trans.  J.  A.  Symonds.) 

We  can  well  understand  how  Michael  Angelo 
came  to  feel  and  write  like  this  when  we 
remember  that  he  had  been  working  at  these 
statues  just  before  that  awful  siege  of  Florence 
in  1529-30,  while  he  was  actually  engaged  in 
fortifying  the  city  against  the  enemy.  He  had 
to  return  to  the  work  after  Florence  had  been 
betrayed,  and  when  the  Republic  he  loved  had 
fallen  for  ever.  He  himself  was  threatened 
with  death  by  the  tyrant,  Alessandro.  His 
thoughts  might  well  be  dark  and  sorrowful ! 

The  two  other  monuments  which  were  to 
have  been  erected  were  most  probably  intended 
for  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent  and  his  brother, 
Giuliano  ;  but  this  is  not  certainly  known,  and, 
in  any  case,  the  monuments  were  never  set  up. 

In  another  chapel ,  called  the  Chapel  of 
the  Princes,  are  the  tombs  of  the  Medicean 
Grand  Dukes  of  Tuscany,  Cosimo  1.  and  his 
descendants.  This  chapel  is  gorgeous  with 
marble  and  mosaics,  and  although  it  has  not 
the  grandeur  of  simplicity  or  the  great  historical 
14 


210     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

interest  of  the  tombs  of  the  elder  Medici,  the 
general  effect  is  extremely  beautiful. 

When  the  Medici  died  out,  they  were  suc- 
ceeded in  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Tuscany  by 
princes  of  the  House  of  Austria,  and  in  1738 
the  first  Austrian  Grand  Duke,  Francis  11., 
entered  Florence  by  the  Porta  San  Gallo, 
which  is  still  standing.  These  Austrian  princes 
were  much  better  rulers  than  the  later  Medici, 
and  they  made  Tuscany  the  most  prosperous 
state  in  Italy.  But  when  the  time  came  for 
Italy  to  rise  into  one  great,  united  kingdom, 
the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  finally  chose  to 
take  part  with  Austria,  and  so  had  to  abdicate. 

Florence  then  became  for  a  time  the  capital 
of  King  Victor  Emmanuel's  kingdom.  Now, 
of  course,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom  of  Italy 
is  Rome,  but  Florence  remains  one  of  the 
greatest  towns  in  that  kingdom — "la  bellissima 
e  famossissima  figlia  di  Roma  "  (the  fairest  and 
most  famous  daughter  of  Rome),  as  Dante 
rightly  calls  her. 

And  now  this  long  chapter  about  Florence 
must  come  to  an  end.  And  long  as  the  story 
has  been,  there  has  been  no  time  to  speak  much 
about  the  glorious  works  of  art  in  Florence,  or 
about  her  great  writers.  It  has  only  been 
possible  to  give  a  kind  of  outline  of  her 
wonderful  history,  in  the  hope  of  pointing  out 
how  worthy  she  is  of  more  and  more  study. 


VIII 
THE  GREAT  CAPTAINS 

"Why,  then,  the  world's  mine  oyster, 
Which  I  with  sword  will  open." 

Shakespeare,  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor. 

In  most  of  the  other  chapters  you  have  read 
about  the  way  in  which  Italy  was  so  long- 
divided  up  into  different  states,  which  states 
used  to  be  constantly  at  war  with  one  another 
as  well  as  with  countries  outside  Italy. 

Indeed,  the  history  of  Italy,  from  the  time  of 
the  downfall  of  the  Roman  Empire  until  quite 
modern  days,  seems  to  be  one  long  story  of 
plots  and  of  wars.  It  was  a  sad  thing  for  Italy 
that  she  was  for  so  many  centuries  divided 
against  herself,  because  these  divisions  were  the 
cause  of  terrible  loss  and  misery,  and  finally 
ended  in  various  Italian  states  being  conquered 
and  governed  by  foreign  nations.  One  of  the 
worst  and  strangest  parts  of  it  all  was  that  after 
the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  until 
the  sixteenth  century,  these  wars  were  nearly 
always  carried  on  by  means  of  hired  armies. 
The  citizens  of  the  countries  who  were  at  war 


211 


212      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

no  longer  fought  themselves,  but  got  other 
people  to  do  their  fighting  for  them.  These 
hired  troops  were  made  up  partly  of  Italians — 
probably  of  the  discontented  and  unsatisfactory 
sort — and  partly  of  foreigners — French,  English, 
German,  Spanish,  and  perhaps  others  as  well. 

These  troops  fought  under  the  command 
of  their  own  captains  or  leaders,  and  these 
captains  were  usually  described  in  Italian  as 
"condottieri." 

The  "  condottieri '  and  their  companies  did 
not,  as  a  rule,  belong  to  the  country  for  which 
they  were  fighting,  and  therefore  could  not  be 
expected  to  have  any  special  feeling  of  patriot- 
ism or  loyalty.  Indeed,  some  of  them  had 
little  feeling  of  honour  at  all,  and  did  not  always 
keep  their  word.  They  really  fought  mainly 
for  money,  lands,  and  power,  and  sometimes,  no 
doubt,  for  sheer  love  of  fighting  and  adventure. 
Their  armies  often  behaved  much  more  like 
freebooters  and  marauders  than  like  soldiers. 

It  was  a  very  bad  sign  that  such  captains 
and  such  troops  should  be  employed  at  all,  for 
a  healthy  state  is  defended  by  its  own  sons, 
and  not  by  mercenaries  who  have  to  be  paid 
to  defend  it,  and  who  do  not  really  belong  to 
the  country. 

Still,  many  of  the  captains  who  commanded 
these  bands  in  Italy  were  very  fine  men;  they 
were   brave,    clever,    and   persevering,    full   of 


Phoio\ 


\_Alinari. 


SIR  JOHN    HAWKWOOD. 

(Giovanni  Acuto.) 

Fresco  by  Paolo  Uccello  in  the  Duomo  of  Florence. 


THE  GREAT  CAPTAINS  213 

resource  and  daring,  able  and  ready  to  face  all 
kinds  of  hardships  and  fatigue.  They  were 
often  very  cruel,  but  they  lived  in  very  cruel 
times,  and  probably  were  not  much  worse  than 
many  of  their  neighbours. 

We  may  notice  that  at  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  foreign  mercenaries  were 
employed  by  some  of  the  great  Italian  captains 
and  by  the  communes.  Then  came  a  time 
when  the  captains,  or  "condottieri,"  were 
themselves  foreign.  Later  on,  again,  the  chief 
"condottieri"  were  Italians,  as  we  shall  find  as 
our  story  goes  on. 

(1)  Sir  John  Hawkwood 
(Giovanni  Acuto) 

One  of  the  most  famous — perhaps  the  most 
famous — of  the  foreign  captains  who  fought  in 
Italy  was  Sir  John  Hawkwood,  an  Englishman, 
son  of  a  certain  Gilbert  de  Hawkwood  of 
Hedingham  Sybil,  in  Essex. 

John  Hawkwood  must  have  been  born  early 
in  Edward  in.'s  reign,  as  he  fought  in  the 
French  wars.  He  is  said  to  have  been  forced 
to  enter  the  army,  and  to  have  served  at  first 
as  an  archer.  You  remember  what  good  work 
the  English  archers  did  at  the  battle  of  Cre^cy 
in  1346. 

After  the  battle  of  Poitiers  in  1356  and  the 
Peace  of  Bretigny  in  1360,  a  number  of  troops 


214      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN    HISTORY 

were  disbanded  by  both  the  King  of  England 
and  the  King  of  France.  These  soldiers 
formed  themselves  into  independent  companies 
under  their  own  leaders,  and  lived  chiefly  by 
fighting  and  pillage. 

In  1359,  Hawk  wood,  who  is  spoken  of  as 
very  fierce,  and  as  having  the  cunning  of  a  fox, 
was  commanding  a  troop  of  free-lances  in 
Gascony.  He  and  his  men  took  the  town  of 
Pau  by  storm  and  robbed  the  clergy.  The 
next  year,  1360,  Hawkwood  joined  another 
company  of  freebooters  under  the  celebrated 
French  leader,  Bernard  de  la  Salle,  and  in 
1 36 1  they  attacked  and  took  Pont  d'Esprit, 
near  Avignon,  much  to  the  wrath  and  dismay 
of  Pope  Innocent  vi.,  who  was  then  living  at 
the  Papal  Palace  at  Avignon.  The  Pope  tried 
to  get  up  a  kind  of  crusade  against  these 
robber-bands  ;  but  this  failed,  and  he  had  to 
buy  them  off  with  a  large  sum  of  money.  At 
the  same  time  he  advised  the  Marquis  of 
Montferrat,  who  was  at  war  with  the  Visconti, 
lords  of  Milan,  to  hire  this  company  to  fight 
for  him.  The  Marquis  of  Montferrat  was  then 
very  hard  pressed  by  the  Milanese,  so  he 
eneaeed  the  band  of  Bernard  de  la  Salle  to 
help  him  against  the  Visconti. 

Perhaps  it  will  help  to  make  this  story 
clearer  if,  before  talking  any  more  about 
Hawkwood,  we  say  something  about  the  great 


THE   GREAT   CAPTAINS  215 

Visconti  family,  who  ruled  in  Milan  during 
part  of  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and  fifteenth 
centuries.  We  shall  hear  so  much  of  their 
doings  that  it  is  as  well  to  know  a  little  of 
their  history,  and  how  they  came  to  be  so 
powerful  and  important. 

To  begin  with  their  name,  Visconti.  It  is 
probably  derived  from  one  of  the  "  viscounts  " 
appointed  in  Charlemagne's  time.  Their  coat- 
of-arms  is  very  remarkable  and  very  well  known. 
On  the  shield  is  a  seven-coiled  serpent  de- 
vouring a  child,  and  this  shield  is  said  to  have 
been  carried  by  a  Saracen  who  was  slain  in 
single  combat  by  the  crusader,  Otto  Visconti. 
Otto  took  this  device  or  cognisance  for  his  own 
and  handed  it  on  to  his  descendants,  and  this 
is  why  the  Visconti  are  sometimes  called  the 
House  of  the  Snake. 

The  Visconti  had  many  fights  and  struggles 
with  the  family  of  the  Torriani,  the  former 
lords  of  Milan,  who  were  Guelfs,  while  the 
Visconti  were  Ghibellines.  In  1277,  Arch- 
bishop Otto  Visconti,  who  was  then  the  leader 
of  the  Ghibelline  party  in  Lombardy,  won  a 
decided  victory  over  the  Torriani,  drove  them 
out,  and  was  proclaimed  lord  of  Milan.  It 
seems  curious  to  us  now  that  an  archbishop 
should  be  at  the  head  of  an  army  and  ruler  of 
a  city,  but  in  those  days  it  was  not  uncommon. 

Some  years  after  this,  the  Torriani,  helped  by 


2i6      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

the  lower  classes  in  Milan,  returned  to  power 
for  a  time;  but  in  1310  they  were  completely 
overthrown,  and  the  Visconti  came  back  once 
more.  This  time  they  returned  under  the 
protection  and  authority  of  the  Emperor 
Henry  vn.,  who  had  come  over  into  Italy  to 
receive  the  Imperial  crown,  and  to  try  to 
restore  peace  and  order  among  the  Italian 
communes.  By  their  craft  and  clever  scheming 
the  Visconti  had  got  the  Emperor  to  help 
them,  and  in  131 2  Matteo  Visconti,  who  was 
then  the  head  of  the  house,  received  the  title 
of  Imperial  Vicar  of  Milan.  The  Visconti 
managed  to  get  many  of  the  Lombard  cities 
under  their  rule,  and  made  Milan  a  very 
wealthy,  important,  and  powerful  state. 

In  Sir  John  Hawkwood's  time,  two  brothers, 
Galeazzo  and  Bernabo  Visconti,  were  ruling  in 
Milan.  They  lived  in  royal  state  and  dignity, 
and  made  all  kinds  of  grand  marriages  for 
their  children.  Galeazzo's  son,  the  celebrated 
Gian-Galeazzo,  married  a  French  princess,  Isa- 
belle  de  Valois  ;  his  daughter,  Violante,  married 
Lionel,  Duke  of  Clarence,  son  of  Edward  in. 
This  last  wedding  took  place  at  Milan  in  1368, 
and  was  most  splendid  and  gorgeous.  Among 
the  crowd  of  guests  was  Sir  John  Hawkwood 
himself. 

These  two  Visconti  brothers  were  very  cruel 
and  oppressive  in  their  government ;  but,  curious 


THE   GREAT   CAPTAINS  217 

as  it  may  appear,  they  were  at  the  same  time 
very  devout,  and  founded  many  churches  and 
convents. 

Galeazzo  died  in  1378,  and  his  share  of  the 
government  fell  to  his  son,  Gian-Galeazzo,  who 
remained  quietly  at  Pavia  for  seven  years  after 
his  father's  death,  while  his  uncle,  Bernabo,  con- 
tinued to  rule  in  Milan.  Bernabo  became 
more  and  more  tyrannical  and  cruel  in  his 
government  as  time  went  on,  and  was  more 
and  more  feared  and  hated  by  the  people. 

Now,  his  nephew,  Gian-Galeazzo,  was  the 
most  able,  subtle,  and  ambitious  of  all  the 
family.  He  appeared  to  be  living  a  life  of 
quiet  study  at  Pavia,  and  ruled  much  more 
gently  than  his  uncle,  who  had  a  certain  con- 
tempt for  him.  But  he  was  making  his  plans 
with  great  care,  and  he  waited  calmly  for  his 
opportunity. 

At  last,  in  1385,  he  set  out  for  Milan  with  a 
large  escort  of  men-at-arms,  saying  that  he  was 
on  his  way  to  visit  a  holy  shrine  at  Varese, 
and  adding  that  he  should  like  to  meet  his 
uncle  as  he  passed  by  Milan. 

Accordingly,  Bernabo  and  his  sons  rode 
out  to  meet  Gian-Galeazzo,  laughing  at  his 
cowardice  in  bringing  so  large  an  escort.  But 
when  they  met,  Gian-Galeazzo  made  a  sign  to  his 
captain,  and  Bernabo  and  his  sons  were  instantly 
made  prisoners  and  hurried  off  to  a  castle. 


218      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Gian-Galeazzo  entered  the  city  of  Milan, 
where  he  was  received  with  the  greatest  joy, 
and  where  he  now  became  sole  ruler. 

Gian-Galeazzo's  excuse  for  his  treachery  was 
that  his  uncle  and  cousins  had  been  intriguing 
against  him  ;  but  this  is  doubtful,  and  few  people 
believed  it.  Gian-Galeazzo,  by  means  of  his 
wonderful  ability,  his  terrifying  astuteness,  per- 
severance, and  ambition,  soon  became  the 
most  powerful  ruler  in  North  Italy,  and  all  his 
enterprises  seemed  to  succeed. 

At  one  time  the  dominion  of  the  Visconti 
reached  right  across  to  the  Adriatic ;  Gian- 
Galeazzo  also  became  master  of  Pisa,  and  his 
soldiers  conquered  Perugia,  Assisi,  and  Siena. 

In  1395,  by  authority  of  the  Emperor 
Wenceslas,  the  Milanese  state,  together  with 
a  number  of  the  conquered  cities,  was  made 
into  a  Duchy,  and  Gian-Galeazzo  was  solemnly 
robed  and  crowned  as  Duke  of  Milan  by  the 
Papal  Legate  in  the  Piazza  of  St.  Ambrogio. 
It  was  settled  that  his  heirs  were  to  succeed 
him  in  the  Duchy. 

Gian-Galeazzo  was  undoubtedly  a  great 
statesman  and  a  great  administrator  as  well  as 
a  conqueror.  He  ruled  wisely  and  well,  and 
under  his  government  people  were  not  nearly 
so  cruelly  taxed  as  before.  Like  most  Italian 
princes  of  his  time,  he  had  a  great  knowledge 
and  love  of  art  and  letters.     He  planned  and 


THE  GREAT  CAPTAINS  219 

founded  the  splendid  Cathedral  of  Milan  and  the 
exquisite  Certosa  at  Pavia.  He  brought  many 
great  scholars  to  the  University  of  Pavia,  and 
among  these  was  a  very  famous  Greek,  who 
was  able  to  teach  his  own  language,  which  many 
people  in  those  days  were  so  anxious  to  learn. 

In  1401-02  Duke  Gian-Galeazzo  had  almost 
realised  the  great  dream  of  his  life — that  of 
becoming  King  of  Italy.  Just  at  that  time  he 
was  on  the  point  of  subduing  his  last,  bravest, 
and  most  obstinate  foe,  the  Republic  of 
Florence  ;  and  then,  just  as  the  hour  of  triumph 
seemed  to  be  at  hand,  he  fell  ill  of  the  plague, 
and  died,  after  a  few  days'  illness,  in  August 
1402.  He  left  two  sons,  Galeazzo  Maria  and 
Filippo  Maria,  both  of  whom  became  in  turn 
Duke  of  Milan.  His  daughter,  Valentina, 
married  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  Her  grandson 
became  King  Louis  xn.  of  France,  and  in  later 
days  he  claimed  Milan  in  right  of  his  descent 
from  this  very  Valentina  Visconti,  and  thus 
brought  many  disastrous  wars  upon  Italy. 

And  now,  having  explained  who  the  Visconti 
were,  and  how  it  was  that  they  were  so  power- 
ful and  important,  we  must  go  back  to  Sir  John 
Hawkwood  and  his  career,  and  we  must  begin 
by  saying  something  about  that  famous  and 
terrible  band  of  soldiers  known  as  the  White 
Company,  of  which  Hawkwood  soon  became 
one  of  the  chief  leaders. 


220      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN    HISTORY 

This  company  was  begun  after  the  Peace  of 
Bretigny  by  a  man  named  Bertrand  de  Crequi, 
who  gathered  together  some  of  the  troops 
which  had  garrisoned  Picardy,  Champagne,  and 
Burgundy  during  the  war.  They  seem  to 
have  joined  with  the  bands  which  had  fought 
under  Bernard  de  la  Salle,  and  with  another 
company,  collected  by  a  certain  Countess 
d'Harcourt,  who  wanted  to  avenge  her 
husband's  death. 

These  armed  bands,  being  chiefly  made  up  of 
men  who  had  served  under  the  English,  called 
themselves  Englishmen,  and  took  the  name  of 
the  "  White  Company."  Curiously  enough, 
the  first  commander  of  this  so-called  English 
company  was  a  German,  whose  name  was 
Albert  Sterz. 

The  White  Company  was  very  strong  and 
well  disciplined,  the  men  having  been  accus- 
tomed to  every  kind  of  hardship  during  the 
wars  in  France.  The  company  consisted  of 
one  thousand  "  lances,"  as  they  were  called, 
and  two  thousand  infantry. 

By  the  word  "  lance  "  was  meant  a  knight, 
with  his  esquire  and  page.  The  knight  and 
his  esquire  rode  powerful  chargers,  while  the 
page  rode  a  palfrey.  The  knight  was  clad  in 
iron  and  steel  from  head  to  foot,  but  the  esquire 
was  less  heavily  armed.  The  chief  weapon 
used  was  a  long,  heavy  lance,   which  needed 


THE   GREAT  CAPTAINS  221 

two  men  to  wield  it.  The  men  were  also 
armed  with  swords  and  daggers.  An  old 
chronicler  tells  us  that  the  armour  was  kept  so 
bright  and  shining  by  the  pages,  that  when  the 
"  lances "  went  into  battle  they  glittered  like 
mirrors,  and  this  helped  to  terrify  the  enemy. 
He  also  adds  that  the  White  Company  first 
brought  the  use  of  the  word  "  lance  "  into  Italy, 
as  a  name  for  cavalry. 

The  infantry  who  served  in  the  White 
Company  were  chiefly  archers,  and  carried 
bows  made  of  yew.  They  also  were  armed 
with  swords  and  daggers,  and  carried  small, 
light  ladders  for  scaling  walls  and  towers. 

We  have  already  mentioned  that  the  Marquis 
of  Montferrat  had  employed  some  of  these  armed 
bands  to  fight  for  him  against  the  Visconti. 
When  he  and  the  Visconti  had  made  peace, 
the  White  Company  passed  into  the  service  of 
the  Republic  of  Pisa,  which  was  at  war  with 
Florence. 

Just  as  Pisa  seemed  on  the  point  of  victory, 
part  of  the  company  broke  faith  with  her  and 
went  away  like  traitors,  having  been  bribed  by 
Florentine  gold.  Sir  John  Hawkwood,  with 
twelve  hundred  lances,  remained  true  to  his 
word,  but  a  great  attack  which  he  had  planned 
on  Florence  failed.  Some  say  that  this  was 
because  his  German  allies  were  bribed  to  desert 
him ;  others  say  that  the    Florentine  captains 


222      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN    HISTORY 

roused  up,  and  were  not  so  careless  as  their 
chief  commander  had  been  before. 

Sir  John  Hawkwood  (or  Giovanni  Acuto,  as 
the  Italians  always  called  him)  now  became  a 
very  important  person  in  Italy. 

When  the  Pisan  war  was  over,  Hawkwood 
and  his  company  attacked  Perugia.  Then,  after 
fighting  in  various  places,  he  joined  an  Italian 
band,  called  the  Company  of  St.  George,  which 
had  been  formed  by  one  of  the  Visconti  family. 
This  company  attacked  and  conquered  first 
Siena,  and  then  Perugia.  After  these  two 
victories  the  company  divided,  and  Hawkwood 
led  his  men  into  Lombardy,  where  he  entered 
the  service  of  the  Visconti,  who  were  then 
fighting  with  the  d'  Este  family.  This  was  in 
1368,  when  Lionel,  Duke  of  Clarence,  married 
Violante  Visconti,  and  Hawkwood  went  to 
Milan  for  the  wedding. 

The  next  year  we  find  Hawkwood  fighting 
against  the  Pope.  He  was  taken  prisoner  near 
Arezzo,  but  was  ransomed  by  the  Republic  of 
Pisa.  He  then  pursued  the  Pope,  and  actually 
besieged  him  at  Montefiascone. 

Then  suddenly,  in  1372,  Hawkwood  threw 
up  his  command  under  the  Visconti,  and  now 
passed  into  the  service  of  the  Pope,  against 
whom  he  had  just  been  fighting. 

In  order  to  try  and  understand  even  a  little 
of  what  was  going  on  in  all  this  confusion,  we 


THE  GREAT  CAPTAINS  223 

must  remember  that  for  nearly  seventy  years 
the  popes  had  held  their  court,  not  at  Rome, 
but  at  Avignon,  where  they  had  been  really 
forced  to  live  by  King  Philip  the  Fair,  and 
where  they  had  stayed  long  after  his  death. 
Many  people,  especially  in  Italy,  were  very 
indignant  at  this,  and  were  most  anxious  that 
the  popes  should  return  to  Rome. 

Gregory  xi.,  the  pope  who  finally  did  bring 
the  papal  court  back  to  Rome,  unfortunately 
tried  to  reconquer  the  States  of  the  Church  by 
sending  foreign  legates  to  persuade  or  threaten 
the  people,  and  by  employing  the  help  of  foreign 
soldiery.  Among  these  hired  troops  the  worst, 
it  is  sad  to  say,  were  the  Bretons  and  the 
English.  In  the  time  of  Gregory's  successor, 
Urban  vi.,  most  horrible  atrocities  were  com- 
mitted by  these  soldiers  in  the  province  of 
Romagna,  and  especially  at  the  unhappy  towns 
of  Faenza  and  Cesena.  Hawkwood  at  first 
tried  to  protest,  but  in  the  end  he  disgraced 
himself  by  his  cruelty  to  the  miserable  in- 
habitants. 

When  speaking  of  this  time  and  these  doings 
in  Italy,  we  are  reminded  of  one  of  the  sweetest, 
noblest,  and  most  devoted  of  women,  St. 
Catherine  of  Siena,  who  had  such  a  wonderful 
power  for  good.  Many  books  have  been  written 
about  St.  Catherine,  and  you  will  one  day  learn 
more  about  her  life  of  devotion,  and  about  her 


224      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

great  wisdom  and  prudence.  Here  we  can 
only  say  a  very  few  words  about  her.  St. 
Catherine  was  born  at  Siena  in  1347,  and  was 
the  daughter  of  one  Giacomo  Benincasa,  a  dyer. 
She  was  the  youngest  of  a  very  large  family 
of  children.  She  showed  a  spirit  of  earnest 
devotion  from  quite  early  childhood,  and  when 
she  was  nearly  seventeen  she  joined  the  Domin- 
ican Sisters  of  Penance,  and  became  one  of 
their  Order,  giving  herself  up  entirely  to  the 
service  of  God  and  of  the  poor  and  suffering. 
She  gradually  formed  a  special  band  of  fol- 
lowers, and  as  years  went  on  people  of  all  kinds 
turned  more  and  more  to  her  for  advice, — 
even  on  public  and  political  matters, — so  greatly 
did  they  reverence  her  opinion  and  counsel. 

St.  Catherine  died  in  Rome  in  1380,  and  is 
buried  under  the  high  altar  of  the  great  Domini- 
can Church  of  Santa  Maria  sopra  Minerva. 

In  those  sad  days  of  strife  St.  Catherine  not 
only  implored  the  Pope  to  return  to  Rome, 
but  begged  him  to  come  in  love  and  peace, 
with  the  Cross  in  his  hand,  and  not  with  bands 
of  armed  soldiers.  St.  Catherine  used  all  her 
great  influence  in  the  cause  of  peace.  She  was 
most  anxious  to  set  Italy  free  from  these  terrible 
companies  that  were  making  war  up  and  down 
in  her  midst,  and,  hearing  that  the  Pope  was 
thinking  of  a  new  Crusade,  she  did  all  she  could 
to   persuade   people    to  join    it.     One   of  her 


THE   GREAT   CAPTAINS  225 

eloquent  letters  is  to  Sir  John  Hawkwood ; 
she  entreats  him  and  his  soldiers  not  to  fight 
any  more  against  their  fellow-Christians,  but  to 
"  take  the  pay  and  the  Cross  of  Christ  crucified 
...  so  that  you  may  be  a  company  of  Christ 
to  go  against  those  infidel  clogs  who  possess 
our  holy  place,  where  the  first  sweet  Verity 
reposed  and  sustained  death  and  torment  for 
us. 

It  is  said  that  Hawkwood  and  his  captains 
made  a  most  solemn  promise  that,  when  the 
Crusade  was  started,  they  would  go  and  fight 
the  Turks,  but  in  the  end  this  plan  came  to 
nothing. 

After  some  more  years  of  fighting  and  in- 
triguing, Hawkwood  went  over  to  the  other 
side  again,  and  joined  the  league  against  the 
Pope.  It  was  at  this  time — 1377 — that  he 
married  a  daughter  of  Bernabo  Visconti. 

In  1378  Hawkwood  and  a  German  condot- 
tiere  called  Count  Lucius  Landau  were  sent 
into  the  Veronese  territory  to  claim  the  inherit- 
ance of  Can'  Signorio  della  Scala,  Lord  of 
Verona,  for  his  sister  Beatrice,  who  was  married 
to  Bernabo  Visconti.  The  besiegers  are  said  to 
have  been  bought  off  by  a  large  sum  of  money, 
as  was  often  done  in  those  days.  After  this, 
Hawkwood  fought  for  Francesco  Carrara,  the 
Lord  of  Padua,  who  was  at  war  with  Verona. 
This  war  between  two  neighbouring  cities  seems 
*5 


226     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

to  have  been  stirred  up  partly  by  Venice  on  one 
side,  and  by  Milan  on  the  other.  In  the 
Paduan  army  Hawkwood  commanded  a  com- 
pany of  five  hundred  cavalry  and  six  hundred 
English  archers. 

He  showed  great  daring,  and  led  his  troops 
right  up  to  the  very  walls  of  Verona.  This 
placed  them  in  considerable  danger,  as  the 
Veronese  were  in  a  very  strong  fortified 
position.  Hawkwood  now  showed  his  fox-like 
cunning,  of  which  we  heard — for  he  made  his  men 
pretend  flight  before  the  enemy,  and  this  tempted 
the  Veronese  to  come  out  of  their  stronghold. 
When  he  got  them  well  out  of  Verona,  he 
turned,  attacked  them  fiercely,  and  routed  them. 

The  Republic  of  Venice  then  tried  to  get 
Hawkwood  into  their  service,  and  offered  him 
a  large  sum  of  money  ;  but  he  refused  the  offer, 
and  in  the  year  1380  he  passed  into  the  service 
of  Florence.  (You  will  remember  that  this  was 
just  about  the  time  that  the  Medici  first  began 
to  rise  into  power.)  Hawkwood  was  now 
evidently  thought  to  be  a  very  important  per- 
sonage, for  in  1382  he  was  sent  as  English 
Ambassador  to  the  Pope  with  Sir  Nicholas 
Dae  worth  and  the  Dean  of  St.  Martin's.  In 
1385  Hawkwood  was  again  sent  as  English 
Ambassador,  this  time  to  the  Court  of  Naples. 

In  this  same  year — 1385 — Hawkwood's 
father-in-law,  Bernabo  Visconti,  was  murdered, 


THE   GREAT   CAPTAINS  227 

it  is  said  by  his  nephew,  Gian-Galeazzo, 
that  wonderful  but  unscrupulous  prince  you 
read  about  just  now.  Hawkwood  wanted  the 
Florentines  to  help  him  to  fight  Gian-Galeazzo 
in  revenue  for  this  murder,  but  at  that  time  the 
Florentines  would  not  consent  to  his  leading 
their  forces  against  Milan. 

But  the  years  went  on,  and  Gian-Galeazzo 
became  more  and  more  powerful.  He  was 
getting  nearer  and  nearer  to  his  great  aim, 
namely,  to  make  himself  King  of  Italy,  and  to 
be  crowned  at  Florence.  In  1390  the  Floren- 
tines saw  that  they  must  make  a  real  stand 
against  "the  Great  Serpent,"  Gian-Galeazzo 
Visconti,  unless  they  wanted  to  lose  the  in- 
dependence of  their  republic.  So  at  last  the 
war  broke  out. 

Gian-Galeazzo  had  provided  himself  with 
some  of  the  ablest  and  greatest  captains  in 
Italy  to  lead  his  forces. 

The  Florentines  sent  for  Sir  John  Hawk- 
wood,  who  was  in  Rome,  and  they  also  got  a 
French  general  called  d'Armagnac  to  cross 
the  Alps  and  invade  the  Milanese  state  from 
the  side  of  Provence. 

Armagnac  and  his  troops  came  over  into 
Italy,  but  he  was  defeated  by  the  famous 
Milanese  general,  Jacopo  del  Verme,  at  a 
place  not  far  from  Alessandria.  Armagnac 
was  taken  prisoner,  and  died  of  his  wounds. 


228      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

The  Milanese,  encouraged  by  their  victory, 
moved  on  to  meet  Hawkwood,  who,  with  his 
army,  was  encamped  on  the  river  Adda.  As 
the  Milanese  army  was  so  much  larger  than 
the  Florentine,  Hawkwood  and  his  captains 
thought  it  would  be  wiser  to  retreat  in  the 
direction  of  the  river  Adige,  and  finally  get  on 
to  Paduan  territory.  But  this  was  not  at  all 
easy ;  the  Milanese  general  thought  he  had 
caught  Hawkwood  in  a  trap,  and  he  sent  him, 
as  a  mocking  joke,  a  fox  shut  up  in  a  cage. 
Hawkwood  answered  quite  pleasantly  that  he 
was  quite  glad  to  be  in  the  cage,  as  he  knew 
the  way  out  very  well.  And,  indeed,  so  it 
proved.  For  when  Hawkwood  saw  that  the 
Milanese  troops  were  getting  careless  and  too 
sure  of  victory,  he  turned  and  attacked  them, 
routing  them  with  great  slaughter.  He  then 
finished  his  celebrated  retreat,  and  took  his 
army  to  Bologna,  thus  saving  the  Florentine 
troops  and  turning  what  was  almost  a  defeat 
into  a  victory  for  his  side. 

A  year's  truce  was  made  with  the  Visconti, 
and  in  1392  Florence  was  able  to  make  peace 
on  honourable  terms.  This  peace  was  made 
at  Genoa,  and  afterwards  Sir  John  Hawkwood 
gave  up  his  career  as  a  soldier,  and  settled 
down  to  live  quietly  at  Florence,  where  he  was 
much  honoured,  and  where  he  had  a  good  deal 
of  property. 


THE   GREAT   CAPTAINS  229 

He  was  just  arranging  to  sell  his  lands  and 
castles  to  the  Florentine  Commune,  wishing 
to  return  to  spend  his  last  days  in  England, 
when  he  was  seized  with  mortal  illness,  and 
died  on  March  16th,  1394. 

He  was  buried  with  great  pomp  in  the 
Duomo  of  Florence,  where  his  monument  still 
remains.  Some  time  afterwards,  at  the  request 
of  the  King  of  England,  and  by  permission 
of  the  Florentine  Republic,  his  body  was 
brought  back  and  buried  at  his  old  home 
in  Essex. 

Some  day,  when  you  go  to  Florence,  you 
will  see  at  the  west  end  of  the  Duomo  a  fresco 
of  this  great  captain,  who  has  been  called  "the 
first  real  general  of  modern  times."  The 
portrait  represents  him  as  a  man  of  handsome 
and  regular  features,  broad-shouldered,  and 
above  the  middle  height. 

It  is  pleasant  to  think  that  in  those  days, 
when  treachery  was  only  too  common,  Hawk- 
wood  was  considered  a  trustworthy  commander. 
And,  while  we  cannot  help  being  sorry  for  his 
many  cruelties,  we  are  glad  to  know  that  in 
1380  he  helped  to  found  the  English  hospital 
in  Rome,  which  shows  that  he  was  not  wholly 
hard-hearted. 

This  is  only  a  short  sketch  of  his  life,  but 
we  can  understand  how  and  why  Sir  John 
Hawkwood  became  so  important  in  the  history 


23o     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

of  Italy  at  that  time  when  we  remember  that 
he  had  a  hand  in  bringing  the  Papal  Court 
back  to  Rome,  and,  above  all,  that  by  saving 
the  independence  of  Florence  he  prevented 
Gian-Galeazzo  Visconti  from  making  himself 
King  of  Italy. 

We  might  perhaps  ask  ourselves  whether 
it  would  not  have  been  better  if  Gian-Galeazzo 
had  succeeded  in  his  plans,  and  had  set  up  a 
powerful  kingdom  to  keep  out  the  French, 
Spanish,  and  Austrians.  However,  it  is  clear 
that  Italy  was  at  that  time  not  ready  for  union, 
and  she  would  most  likely  have  been  torn 
asunder  again  by  fights  among  her  own 
children. 

(2)  Carmagnola 

As  we  know  already,  Gian-Galeazzo  Visconti 
died  in  1402,  so  there  was  an  end  of  his 
ambition  and  his  schemes.  His  successors 
were  not  so  able  or  successful  as  he  was,  and 
were  more  cruel.  We  are  reminded  of  this, 
because  the  next  great  captain  we  are  going  to 
speak  about  had  to  do  with  Gian-Galeazzo's 
son,  Filippo  Maria,  who  became  Duke  of 
Milan  in  1412,  after  his  elder  brother,  Giovanni 
Maria,  had  been  murdered  in  revenge  for  his 
horrible  cruelties. 

While  this  miserable,  wicked  Giovanni  Maria 
was  Duke,  many  of  the  cities  in  the  duchy  of 


THE  GREAT  CAPTAINS  231 

Milan  had  rebelled,  and  had  chosen  lords  of 
their  own.  Therefore,  when  Filippo  Maria 
succeeded  to  the  title  of  Duke  of  Milan,  he 
found  himself  almost  like  a  prisoner  in  his  own 
castle  of  Pavia,  without  lands  and  without  an 
army.  He  took  a  curious  way  of  helping 
himself  out  of  his  difficulty,  and  that  was  by 
marrying  Beatrice  Tenda,  widow  of  a  very 
famous  Milanese  general  named  Facino  Cane, 
who  had  fought  in  Gian-Galeazzo's  wars.  In 
this  way  Duke  Filippo  Maria  got  hold  of  the 
castles  which  Facino  Cane  had  held,  and,  what 
is  more,  he  also  got  hold  of  his  troops. 

One  of  the  commanders  in  this  army  was  a 
certain  Francesco  Bussone,  afterwards  famous 
in  history  as  the  Count  of  Carmagnola,  that 
being  the  name  of  the  little  Piedmontese  village 
where  he  was  born. 

The  general,  Facino  Cane,  had  noticed  this 
brave,  intelligent-looking  boy,  who  was  tending 
the  herds  at  Carmagnola,  and  he  had  taken 
him  into  his  service. 

You  will  see  that  Carmagnola  was  mixed  up 
with  many  of  the  principal  events  of  his  day, 
and  that  he,  like  Hawk  wood,  played  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  internal  politics  of  Italy. 

Carmagnola  took  service  under  the  new 
Duke  of  Milan,  Filippo  Maria  Visconti.  The 
first  thing  he  did  was  to  help  the  Duke  to  get 
back  the  capital  of  his  duchy,  for  Milan  was 


232      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

then  in  the  hands  of  Astorre  Visconti  and  of 
the  conspirators  who  had  assassinated  Giovanni 
Maria. 

When  Filippo  Maria  had  returned  to  Milan 
and  had  avenged  the  murder  of  his  brother, 
he  set  his  two  great  generals,  Carmagnola  and 
Piccinino,  to  work  to  recover  his  other  lost 
possessions.  In  the  short  space  of  twelve 
years  no  less  than  twenty  towns  had  been  won 
back  for  the  duchy  of  Milan,  and  this  chiefly 
through  the  courage  and  loyalty  of  Carmagnola 
himself. 

But,  unhappily,  the  Duke  was  a  man  of 
mean,  cowardly,  and  cruel  character,  and  was 
also  very  suspicious.  He  allowed  himself  to 
listen  to  certain  of  his  courtiers  who  were 
jealous  of  Carmagnola,  and  who  wished  to 
injure  him.  The  Duke  therefore  began  by 
trying  to  remove  Carmagnola  from  any  com- 
mand in  the  army ;  but  Carmagnola  guessed 
at  once  that  his  enemies  had  been  at  work, 
so  he  rode  out  to  the  castle  where  the  Duke 
was  staying  in  order  to  see  him  face  to  face 
and  have  an  explanation.  The  Duke,  how- 
ever, would  not  meet  him,  but  sent  a  message, 
bidding  him  explain  what  he  wanted  to  one  of 
the  courtiers,  a  man  who  was  Carmagnola's 
enemy.  At  last  Carmagnola,  in  a  rage, 
mounted  his  horse  and  called  out,  "  Maybe 
before  long    the    Duke  will    be    sorry    he   did 


THE   GREAT   CAPTAINS  233 

not  listen  to  me ! '  He  then  set  spurs  to  his 
horse,  and  he  and  his  followers  galloped  off 
and  disappeared. 

Carmagnola  went  first  to  his  own  prince, 
Amedeo,  Duke  of  Savoy,  and  tried  to  stir 
him  up  against  the  Duke  of  Milan.  He 
finally  entered  the  service  of  the  Republic  of 
Venice,  which  was  at  that  time  allied  with 
Florence  in  a  war  with  the  Duke  of  Milan. 
This  was  in  1425,  just  at  the  time  when  Venice 
was  beginning  to  try  to  win  more  possessions 
on  the  mainland,  and  was  getting  more  and 
more  ambitious  of  power.  The  Doge,  Fran- 
cesco Foscari,  encouraged  the  Venetians  in 
pursuing  this  aim,  which  was  not  really  a  wise 
one,  and  only  brought  them  much  trouble  in 
the  end. 

In  January  of  the  next  year  Carmagnola 
was  made  captain-general  of  the  Venetian 
forces.  The  Venetians  had  hesitated  at  first 
about  giving  him  the  chief  command  of  their 
army,  fearing  that  he  would  not  fight  loyally 
against  his  old  master,  the  Duke  of  Milan. 
But  Carmagnola  swore  faith  to  Venice ;  he 
received  the  baton  of  command  from  the  hands 
of  the  Doge,  Francesco  Foscari,  and  the 
standard  of  the  Republic  was  given  to  him 
at  the  altar  of  St.   Mark's. 

Carmagnola  won  many  victories  for  Venice, 
the  most  glorious  of  them  being  at  Maclodio, 


234     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

in  the  year  1427,  when  the  Milanese  army 
was  completely  defeated  and  eight  thousand 
prisoners  were  taken,  besides  great  booty.  It 
seems  a  curious  thing  that  Carmagnola  almost 
immediately  set  free  this  enormous  number  of 
prisoners.  The  Venetians  were  inclined  to  be 
displeased  with  him  for  doing  this,  but  when  he 
told  them  that  it  was  the  custom  of  war,  they 
appeared  to  be  satisfied. 

In  1428  peace  was  signed  at  Ferrara 
between  Venice  and  the  Duke  of  Milan.  By 
this  peace  the  towns  of  Brescia  and  Bergamo, 
besides  other  lands,  were  given  up  to  Venice. 

On  his  return  to  Venice,  Carmagnola  was 
received  with  great  pomp  and  rejoicing.  His 
pay  as  general  of  the  forces  was  increased,  and 
lands  were  assigned  to  him. 

In  1429  the  war  broke  out  again,  but  this 
time  the  victories  were  not  all  on  the  Venetian 
side.  The  Milanese  won  a  very  important 
battle  on  the  river  Po,  in  which  the  Venetian 
ships  were  defeated.  The  Venetians  began  to 
doubt  Carmagnola's  loyalty,  and  to  suspect  that 
he  had  a  secret  understanding  with  the  enemy. 
History  is  not  very  clear  on  this  point,  and,  un- 
happily, treachery  was  only  too  common  in 
those  days.  Nevertheless,  it  is  really  very 
unlikely  that  Carmagnola  betrayed  Venice,  and 
it  has  certainly  never  been  proved  against  him. 
It  is  true  that  he  did  not  succeed  as  he  had 


THE   GREAT   CAPTAINS  235 

done  before  ;  the  Venetians  therefore  distrusted 
him,  and  they  resolved  on  a  terrible  vengeance. 

They  got  Carmagnola  back  to  Venice  under 
pretence  of  consulting  him  on  the  terms  of 
peace,  and  when  he  arrived  he  was  once  more 
received  with  great  honour  and  with  every 
show  of  welcome.  But,  when  he  went  to  the 
ducal  palace,  he  found  that  the  Doge  was  said 
to  be  unwell  and  not  able  to  see  him.  He 
turned  to  leave,  but  the  doors  closed,  and  the 
gentlemen-in-waiting  pointed  to  the  passage 
that  led  to  the  prison,  saying,  "Your  way  is 
there,  my  lord  count."  Guards  suddenly  ap- 
peared in  the  doorway,  seized  Carmagnola,  and 
dragged  him  off  to  the  dungeons.  "  I  am  lost," 
he  said,  and  made  no  struggle  to  escape.  We 
are  told  that  for  three  days  he  refused  to  eat. 

This  brave  soldier  was  secretly  tried,  tortured, 
and  at  last  condemned  to  death  as  a  traitor  to 
the  Republic.  On  May  5th,  1432,  he  was  led 
down,  gagged,  to  those  two  famous  pillars  that 
stand  on  the  Piazzetta  at  Venice,  and  was  there 
beheaded.  His  wife  and  daughter  were  in 
Venice  at  the  time.  Carmagnola  was  first 
buried  in  the  great  Franciscan  church  at  Venice, 
but  his  body  was  afterwards  moved  to  Milan. 

It  is  only  fair  to  add  that  the  Venetians  seem 
to  have  been  kind  to  the  widow  and  daughters 
of  their  famous  captain-general,  and  to  have 
provided  for  them  after  his  death. 


236     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

(3)  Bartolommeo  Colleoni 

The  remembrance  of  Venice,  of  Carmagnola, 
and  of  the  wars  with  Milan  leads  us  on  to 
think  of  another  great  Italian  captain,  who  was 
more  fortunate  than  Carmagnola,  though  his 
name  is  perhaps  not  so  widely  known. 

This  was  Bartolommeo  Colleoni,  who  was 
born  near  the  beautiful  hill-city  of  Bergamo, 
in  Lombardy,  in  the  year  1400.  His  family 
belonged  to  the  country  nobility,  and  were 
Guelfs.  His  father,  who  had  been  exiled  by 
the  Visconti,  was  assassinated  through  the 
treachery  of  some  of  his  own  near  kinsfolk, 
and  Bartolommeo's  eldest  brother  was  slain  at 
the  same  time.  The  little  Bartolommeo  was 
thus  left,  the  one  remaining  child  of  his  lonely, 
widowed  mother.  When  the  boy  grew  up,  he 
determined  to  be  a  soldier,  and  entered  the 
service  of  the  Lord  of  Piacenza,  who  was  then 
at  war  with  the  Duke  of  Milan.  The  Milanese 
army,  under  Carmagnola,  won  back  Piacenza 
for  their  Duke,  and  the  young  Colleoni  then 
went  away  to  the  south  of  Italy,  where  the  war 
of  the  Neapolitan  succession  was  going  on. 

Colleoni  served  first  under  the  great  general 
Braccio,  who  was  fighting  against  Queen  Joan 
of  Naples  ;  but  he  did  not  at  all  like  this  service, 
and  determined  to  join  the  French  army  instead. 
He  had  actually  set  off,  but  the  ship  in  which 


THE   GREAT   CAPTAINS  237 

he   was  sailing  was  captured  by  corsairs  and 
brought  back. 

Colleoni  now  joined  the  forces  of  the  other 
general,  Jacopo  Caldora,  who  was  fighting  on 
Queen  Joan's  side.  This  shows  us  very  clearly 
how  little  many  of  these  men  cared  which  side 
they  fought  on,  so  long  as  they  did  fight. 

Colleoni  was  given  what  was  called  a  "con- 
dotta,"  or  commission  of  a  certain  number  of 
men-at-arms.  It  is  from  this  word  "condotta" 
that  "condottiere  "  is  derived,  meaning  the  man 
who  led  a  certain  number  of  soldiers  in  the  field. 
Italian  armies  at  this  time  were  made  up  of 
these  companies,  which  had  each  its  own 
captain.  They  all  served  under  one  general- 
in-chief,  who  made  his  bargain  with  the  state 
for  which  he  was  fighting-. 

Colleoni  showed  so  much  courage  and  ability 
at  the  siege  of  Naples  that  he  was  promoted  to 
a  larger  command,  and  was  allowed  to  have  his 
own  banner,  with  his  family  device  of  lions' 
heads  upon  it  (in  allusion  to  his  name). 

In  1424  Colleoni's  general  won  a  decided 
victory  over  the  enemy,  and  the  war  in  the 
kingdom  of  Naples  quieted  down  for  a  time. 

Colleoni  then  offered  his  services  to  Venice, 
and  fought  under  the  great  Carmagnola  in  the 
war  with  Milan  of  which  you  read  just  now. 

After  Carmagnola's  terrible  death  in  1432, 
Colleoni  served  for  some  years  under  another 


238      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN    HISTORY 

great  general,  called  Gattamelata,  who  was 
commanding  the  Venetian  forces  against  the 
famous  Milanese  general,  Piccinino. 

Before  we  go  on  with  the  story  of  Colleoni's 
fights  and  adventures,  we  will  say  just  a  few 
words  about  this  general  with  the  curious  name, 
Gattamelata,  or  "honeyed  cat." 

His  real  name  was  Erasmo  (or  Stefano)  da 
Narni,  so  called  from  his  birthplace.  He  had 
risen  from  a  very  humble  position  to  be  one  of 
the  most  important  commanders  in  Italy.  He 
first  served  in  the  army  of  Pope  Eugenius  iv., 
and  in  1434  he  passed  into  the  service  of 
the  Venetian  Republic,  under  the  Marquis 
Francesco  Gonzaga,  who  was  then  the  general- 
in-chief  of  the  Venetian  forces.  When 
Gonzaga  deserted  Venice  in  1438  and  went 
over  to  their  enemy,  the  Duke  of  Milan, 
Gattamelata  remained  faithful.  He  saved  part 
of  the  Venetian  army,  and  led  it  successfully 
aeainst  the  treacherous  Gonzaga  and  the 
Milanese. 

During  these  fights,  Gattamelata  broke  up 
Gonzaga's  forces  and  compelled  them  to  fly 
in  various  directions.  The  Milanese  general, 
Piccinino,  fled  to  the  castle  of  Tenno,  which 
stands  on  a  precipitous  rock  near  the  Lake  of 
Garda.  Piccinino  escaped,  and  got  through 
Gattamelata' s  lines  by  having  himself  carried 
out  of  the  castle  in  an  old,  dirty  sack,  under 


THE   GREAT   CAPTAINS  239 

pretence  that  it  contained  the  body  of  a  man 
who  had  died  of  the  plague.  The  supposed 
corpse  was  borne  by  two  men  disguised  as 
bearers  of  the  dead,  and  in  front  of  it  walked 
men  who  were  ringing  bells,  according  to  the 
usual  custom  on  such  occasions.  The  Venetians 
of  course  allowed  them  to  pass,  and  Piccinino 
got  off  and  joined  the  main  part  of  his  army. 
When,  soon  after  this,  Venice  and  Florence 
made  an  alliance,  they  chose  the  celebrated 
Francesco  Sforza  to  command  their  armies. 
Gattamelata  consented  to  serve  under  him,  and 
fought  loyally  and  well. 

He  was  struck  down  with  paralysis  in  1440 
and  died  in  1443.  The  Venetians  honoured  his 
memory  by  having  a  most  splendid  equestrian 
statue  of  him  set  up  near  the  great  Church  of 
St.  Anthony  at  Padua.  This  statue  is  by  the 
famous  Florentine  sculptor,  Donatello,  and  is  a 
wonderful  work. 

Meanwhile,  Bartolommeo  Colleoni  rose 
higher  and  higher  in  the  service  ;  he  was  made 
captain-general  of  the  infantry,  and  was  chosen 
to  be  Governor  of  Verona.  Besides  these 
military  honours,  estates  near  Bergamo  and 
Cremona  were  bestowed  upon  him,  and  he 
thus  became  master  of  three  fine  castles. 

When  Gattamelata  died,  Colleoni  became 
one  of  the  most  important  commanders  in 
Italy,    and    he   won    a   great   reputation    as   a 


24o     STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN   HISTORY 

general.  He  seems  to  have  been  both  cautious 
and  daring,  and  thus  he  could  be  trusted  to 
seize  upon  any  possible  advantage  without 
risking  his  troops  needlessly.  Again,  he  was 
honest  in  dealing  with  the  states  that  em- 
ployed him,  and  was  kind  and  just  to  his  men. 

When  the  war  with  Milan  was  over,  the 
Venetian  Senate  reduced  the  number  both  of 
commanders  and  of  troops.  It  is  not  surprising 
that  they  wanted  to  do  this,  when  we  consider 
the  enormous  expense  the  war  must  have  been. 
Venice  had  employed  the  most  famous  con- 
dottieri  she  could  find,  such  as  Gonzaea  of 
Mantua,  Gattamelata,  Francesco  Sforza,  and 
Bartolommeo  Colleoni,  so  no  wonder  she 
found  that  her  treasure-chest  was  getting 
empty.  One  story  alone  will  show  what 
enormous  sums  of  money  she  must  have  spent 
on  the  war,  and  what  her  possessions  on  the 
mainland  of  Italy  had  cost  her. 

In  1438  Venice  was  very  anxious  to  relieve 
the  town  of  Brescia,  which  was  then  besieged 
by  the  great  Milanese  general,  Piccinino,  but 
all  the  ways  of  getting  to  the  town  were  cut 
off.  The  Venetians  therefore  got  a  very  clever 
engineer  to  carry  out  a  plan  for  taking  a  fleet 
of  thirty  vessels  right  over  the  mountains  to 
the  head  of  the  Lake  of  Garda,  a  distance  of 
two  hundred  miles.  The  galleys  and  boats 
were  taken  up  the  river  Adige  as  far  as  was 


THE  GREAT  CAPTAINS  241 

possible ;  then  they  were  taken  over  the 
mountain  passes  to  the  little  Lake  of  Loppio, 
and  after  this  they  were  let  down  over  the 
terrible  precipices  of  Monte  Baldo  to  a  place 
called  Torbole,  which  had  a  little  harbour 
on  the  lake.  The  Venetian  fleet  was  thus 
able  to  sail  down  the  lake  and  bring  help  to 
Brescia  from  an  unexpected  direction.  When 
we  think  of  what  this  wonderful  feat  of  en- 
gineering meant,  the  roads  that  had  to  be 
levelled,  the  bridges  that  had  to  be  built,  the 
numbers  of  engineers,  pioneers,  and  other  men 
who  were  employed,  we  can  easily  understand 
what  the  cost  must  have  been. 

But  for  some  reason  Colleoni  seems  to  have 
been  annoyed  at  the  cutting  down  of  the 
Venetian  defences,  and  he  ended  by  quarrelling 
with  an  important  Venetian  official. 

Colleoni    then    offered    his    services    to    the 

Duke   of    Milan,    who   at    first   received    him 

courteously,  gave  him  a  good  command,  and 

sent  him  on  a  fighting  expedition  to  the  March 

of  Ancona.     But  after  his  usual  fashion,   the 

Duke  grew  jealous  and  suspicious.     He  recalled 

Colleoni,  accused  him  of  treachery,  and  actually 

shut  him  up  in  one  of  the  horrible  dungeons  at 

Monza  which  were  known  as  the  "Forni,"  or 

Ovens.     These   dungeons    had  been   built  by 

one  of  the  Visconti,  and  the  cells  were  so  made 

that  the  wretched  prisoners  could  neither  stand 
16 


242      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

up  nor  lie  at  full  length.  Moreover,  as  there 
were  spikes  all  over  the  floor,  it  was  torture 
either  to  sit  or  to  move. 

After  a  year  of  this  shameful  treatment, 
Colleoni  managed  to  escape,  and  was  greeted 
with  the  greatest  joy  by  his  faithful  soldiers. 
This  happened  in  1447,  just  at  the  time  of  the 
Duke  of  Milan's  death.  Soon  afterwards, 
Colleoni  returned  to  the  service  of  Venice,  and 
in  1455  he  was  appointed  general-in-chief  of 
the  Venetian  forces,  with  full  powers  and  a 
very  large  stipend. 

Three  years  later  he  came  to  Venice,  and 
made  a  triumphal  entry  into  the  city,  escorted 
by  a  splendid  train  of  followers.  The  Doge 
and  all  the  great  people  of  Venice  came  to 
meet  him,  and  he  received  the  baton  of  com- 
mand from  the  hands  of  the  Doge  at  the  altar 
of  St.  Mark's,  just  as  Carmagnola  had  done, 
and  with  the  same  stately  ceremonies. 

Colleoni  held  this  important  office  for  over 
twenty  years,  and  this  shows  how  completely 
the  Venetians  must  have  trusted  him. 

At  this  time  Venice  had  no  great  wars  going 
on,  and  Colleoni  spent  some  years  quietly  at 
his  castle  of  Malpaga,  between  Brescia  and 
Bergamo.  Here  he  was  constantly  visited  by 
distinguished  people  of  all  kinds.  He  had 
become  very  famous,  and  everybody  wanted 
him.     For  example  :  Pope  Paul  11.  tried  to  get 


Photo] 


pt  •  «•  «.«»«j*  V-»<«  » w*j>«,*«,5»  jg»#  .«#  m* 


[Bro£i. 


BARTOLOMMEO   COLLEONI. 

(Statue  by  Verrocchio  at  Venice.) 


THE  GREAT  CAPTAINS  243 

him  to  command  a  crusade  in  1468  ;  Pope 
Pius  11.  wished  him  to  lead  an  expedition 
against  the  fierce  Sigismondo  Malatesta ;  King 
Louis  xi.  of  France  wanted  him  to  take  a 
command  in  his  army,  and  so,  too,  did  Charles 
the  Bold,  Duke  of  Burgundy.  But  Colleoni 
started  on  no  fresh  adventures,  although  it 
seems  that  he  had  wished  to  serve  under  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy,  because  some  sort  of  com- 
pact was  drawn  up  between  them.  Venice, 
however,  was  opposed  to  this  idea. 

Colleoni  died  peacefully  at  Malpaga  in 
1475,  and  is  buried  in  the  beautiful  Chapel  of 
St.  John  the  Baptist  at  Bergamo,  which  he 
built  and  decorated  in  gorgeous  fashion.  His 
own  splendid  monument  stands  in  the  chapel, 
and  also  the  simpler  but  much  more  lovely 
monument  of  his  daughter,  Medea.  The 
great  soldier  is  best  recalled  to  our  minds 
by  the  magnificent  equestrian  statue  which 
stands  just  outside  the  famous  Church  of  St. 
John  and  St.  Paul  at  Venice.  This  wonderful 
bronze  is  by  the  sculptor  Verrocchio,  and 
represents  Bartolommeo  Colleoni  as  he  was 
said  to  be — tall,  erect,  well  and  powerfully  built. 
He  sits  his  horse  in  a  grand  attitude — half 
triumphant  half  defiant — and  even  in  the  bronze 
we  seem  to  see  the  flash  of  the  black,  piercing 
eyes — those  eyes  that  had  seen  so  many  things 
happen  in  Italy. 


244     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Colleoni  did  not  forget  his  duties  to  the  poor 
and  to  the  Church.  He  founded  several 
charitable  institutions  in  and  near  his  native 
place,  he  built  churches  on  his  principal  estates, 
and  he  rebuilt  and  endowed  two  monasteries, 
dedicating  one  to  St.  Francis  and  the  other  to 
St.  Clara.  These  names  will  remind  us  of  our 
story  of  St.  Francis,  and  help  to  show  how  "  the 
Little  Poor  Man  "  was  beloved  and  revered  by 
all  his  countrymen. 

(4)  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere 

Another  of  these  famous  captains  was 
Giovanni  de'  Medici,  usually  called  "  Giovanni 
delle  Bande  Nere,"  or  John  of  the  Black  Bands 
or  Companies.  He  belonged  to  the  great 
Medici  family,  of  whom  you  read  so  much  in  the 
chapter  about  Florence,  and  he  became  one  of 
the  most  celebrated  of  these  soldiers  of  fortune 
in  Italy.  The  story  of  his  life  gives  us  a  very 
good  picture  of  these  captains  of  independent 
companies,  and  of  the  way  they  served,  first  on 
one  side,  and  then  on  the  other. 

Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere  was  born  in 
1498,  twenty-three  years  after  Bartolommeo 
Colleoni  died.  His  father  was  a  kinsman  of 
the  great  Cosimo  de'  Medici  and  of  Lorenzo 
the  Magnificent.  His  mother  was  Caterina 
Sforza,  called  the  Lady  of  Forli,  celebrated 
for   her    spirit    and    courage.     She    was    the 


THE  GREAT   CAPTAINS  245 

daughter  of  Galeazzo  Maria  Sforza,  Duke  of 
Milan,  and  granddaughter  of  the  famous 
general,  Francesco  Sforza,  who  became  Duke 
of  Milan  after  Filippo  Maria  Visconti  died  in 
1447.  You  have  already  heard  how  Francesco 
Sforza  commanded  the  allied  armies  of  Venice 
and  Florence  in  a  war  against  Milan,  the  very 
state  of  which  he  afterwards  became  Duke. 

The  little  Giovanni  de'  Medici  soon  began  to 
show  that  he  came  of  a  warlike  stock.  He 
was  very  fierce  and  savage  even  when  he  was 
quite  a  child,  and  used  to  beat  his  nurses  and 
tutors.  When  he  got  bigger,  he  delighted  in 
all  kinds  of  athletic  exercises,  such  as  wrestling, 
swimming,  breaking  in  wild  horses,  and  prac- 
tising the  use  of  arms.  He  still  remained 
terribly  fond  of  fighting,  and,  indeed,  he  was  at 
one  time  banished  from  Florence  on  account 
of  his  quarrelsome  ways.  Some  of  his  friends 
got  permission  for  him  to  go  back  again,  but 
he  was  just  as  quarrelsome  and  violent  as 
ever. 

At  last  Pope  Leo  x.,  who  was  a  relation  of 
Giovanni,  thought  he  might  perhaps  be  able  to 
keep  this  wild  young  man  in  better  order  in 
Rome,  so  he  sent  for  him  to  go  there.  But, 
alas !  Giovanni  was  as  troublesome  and  blood- 
thirsty at  Rome  as  in  Florence,  and  began 
quarrels  and  fights  with  the  great  Orsini  family. 

Just  at  this  time,  however,  war   broke    out 


246      STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN   HISTORY 

between    the  Pope  and  the  Duke  of   Urbino, 
and  Giovanni  decided  to  become  a  soldier. 

He  collected  a  number  of  men  among  his 
friends  and  servants,  got  horses  for  them,  and 
in  this  way  began  to  form  the  great  fighting 
company  which  afterwards  became  so  famous, 
and  which  was  the  wonder  both  of  friend  and 
foe. 

Giovanni  and  his  company  fought  on  the 
Papal  side  in  these  sad  and  confusing  wars  until 
the  death  of  Pope  Leo  x.  in  1521.  As  a  sign 
of  mourning  for  the  Pope's  death,  Giovanni 
changed  the  ensigns  of  his  company  from  white 
to  black,  and  from  that  time  his  soldiers  began 
to  be  known  as  the  "  Black  Bands  "  or  "  Black 
Companies " — a  name  which  quickly  became 
celebrated  in  all  Europe. 

The  Duke  of  Urbino  took  advantage  of  the 
Pope's  death  to  push  on  the  war,  and  he  and 
his  allies  began  to  threaten  Tuscany.  It  might 
have  been  an  evil  day  for  Tuscany — and 
especially  for  Florence — if  Giovanni  de'  Medici 
had  not  been  called  to  their  help ;  but 
Giovanni  hastened  to  the  rescue,  having  with 
him  his  own  company  and  some  Swiss  and 
German  soldiers  he  had  collected  in  a  hurry. 

In  a  very  few  days  he  had  driven  the  Duke 
of  Urbino  out  of  Florentine  territory,  and  had 
also  won  back  Montefeltro  for  the  Florentine 
Republic. 


THE  GREAT   CAPTAINS  247 

He  would  also  have  taken  possession  of 
Perugia,  but  his  advance  was  checked  by 
orders  from  Rome,  where  the  College  of 
Cardinals  was  growing  jealous  and  wished  to 
prevent  Giovanni  from  becoming  too  important 
and  powerful. 

Giovanni  was  so  furious  at  these  orders  from 
Rome  that  he  left  Tuscany  and  went  into 
Lombardy,  pretending  that  he  was  going  to 
take  service  under  the  Duke  Francesco  Maria 
Sforza  of  Milan.  But  he  was  really  thinking 
of  deserting  the  Spanish-Papal  League  and 
of  accepting  the  splendid  offers  made  to  him 
by  Francis  1.  of  France.  The  King  of  France 
promised  him  the  lordship  of  Imola  and  Fori! ; 
and  not  only  that,  but  he  even  promised  that 
he  should  rule  in  Florence,  which  Giovanni 
greatly  wished  to  do. 

In  spite  of  all  these  promises,  however, 
Giovanni  did  not  quite  like  to  break  faith  with 
the  League,  and  hesitated  for  a  time.  At  last 
he  made  up  his  mind,  and  did  join  the  French 
army,  taking  with  him  three  thousand  infantry 
and  two  hundred  cavalry. 

You  may  wonder  what  the  King  of  France 
and  his  army  were  doing  in  Italy  at  all,  but 
we  shall  hear  yet  more  about  this  matter  in 
another  chapter.  Meanwhile,  you  must  re- 
member there  was  at  this  time  a  great  rivalry 
between   Francis   1.   and  the    young   Emperor 


248      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Charles  v.  They  had  been  rivals  for  the 
Empire,  and  they  were  now  disputing  as  to 
the  heritage  of  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy. 

The  names  of  Francis  i.  and  Charles  v. 
remind  us,  too,  of  what  was  going  on  in 
England  at  that  time.  Both  these  sovereigns 
tried  to  get  Henry  vm.  to  take  his  part, 
as  each  one  was  anxious  to  win  the  friend- 
ship and  alliance  of  England.  Both  Francis 
and  Charles  tried  to  gain  Cardinal  Wolsey's 
favour — Francis  by  means  of  flatteries  and 
presents,  Charles  by  half  promising  that 
Wolsey  should  be  Pope. 

It  is  interesting  to  think  that  the  great 
meeting  at  the  "  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold' 
took  place  just  at  the  time  when  our  Giovanni 
delle  Bande  Nere  was  beginning  his  wonder- 
ful career  as  a  soldier. 

At  that  time  the  French  king's  army  in  Italy 
was  commanded  by  the  Sieur  de  Lautrec, 
under  whom  Giovanni  de'  Medici  fought. 
Lautrec  was  defeated  near  Milan  in  1522,  and 
went  back  to  France  to  beg  for  more  troops. 
But  this  defeat  was  a  serious  one  for  the 
French,  as  it  meant  the  loss  of  Milan.  The 
castle  of  Milan  surrendered  to  the  Spanish 
and  Papal  forces  in  1523,  and,  among  other 
misfortunes,  the  French  lost  the  help  of 
Giovanni  de'  Medici,  who  was  persuaded  by 
his  relation,  Cardinal  Giulio  de'  Medici,  to  go 


THE   GREAT   CAPTAINS  249 

back  to  the  service  of  the  League.  This 
Cardinal  Giulio  was  at  that  time  governing  in 
Florence.  He  soon  afterwards  became  Pope, 
and  took  the  name  of  Clement  vil,  which  you 
will  remember  in  some  of  our  other  stories. 

Giovanni,  however,  soon  got  tired  of  the 
insolence  and  insincerity  of  the  Spaniards;  and 
perhaps  thinking  he  could  serve  his  own 
country  better  by  fighting  with  the  French,  he 
left  the  League  and  once  more  joined  the 
French  army.  The  King  gave  him  large 
allowances,  and  bestowed  upon  him  the  Order 
of  St.  Michael,  which  Order  he  never  would 
wear.  Very  likely  he  felt  that  to  wear  that 
foreign  order  seemed  like  disloyalty  to  Italy. 

This  service  with  the  French  was  a  very 
short  one,  for  Giovanni  was  wounded  in  the 
leg  by  a  shot,  which  obliged  him  to  leave  the 
seat  of  war  and  retire  to  Piacenza.  This  was 
again  a  serious  loss  to  France,  as  the 
Medicean  bands,  having  lost  their  leader  for 
a  time,  gradually  dispersed. 

Very  soon  after  this  came  the  terrible  defeat 
of  the  French  at  the  battle  of  Pavia,  when 
Francis  1.  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  troops  of 
the  Emperor  Charles  v.     This  was  in  1525. 

After  this  victory  over  the  French  at  Pavia, 
the  Spanish  began  to  try  and  lord  it  over 
Italy  as  if  they  were  the  masters  of  the 
country.        They     turned     Francesco     Maria 


250     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Sforza  out  of  his  duchy  of  Milan,  and  laid 
sieee  to  the  castle  of  Milan  itself.     The  Italian 

o 

princes  now  found  that  the  Spanish  had  de- 
ceived them  when  they  promised  to  respect 
the  independence  of  the  Italian  states,  and  a 
League  was  formed  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
rid  of  the  Spanish  out  of  Italy.  Giovanni  de' 
Medici  and  his  soldiers  joined  this  Italian 
League,  and  Giovanni  was  appointed  captain- 
general  of  all  the  Italian  infantry. 

The  princes  of  the  League,  with  a  large  army, 
tried  to  relieve  Milan  and  to  save  the  castle  ; 
but  the  citadel  surrendered  to  the  Spanish 
under  the  very  eyes  of  the  Italian  commander. 
Giovanni  de'  Medici  was  the  last  to  withdraw 
from  Milan,  and  he  was  really  the  only  man 
who  had  upheld  the  honour  of  Italy  in  this 
most  unhappy  war,  as  he  had  fought  bravely 
and  honestly  for  his  country. 

As  for  driving  out  the  Spanish,  it  was  easier 
said  than  done  ;  the  Italians  had  encouraged 
foreign  armies  to  come  into  Italy,  and  now 
they  had  to  put  up  with  the  devastation  and 
tyranny  that  followed,  especially  as  they  were 
divided  among  themselves.  All  this  happened 
in  1526,  and  the  next  year  saw  the  fearful 
sack  of  Rome  by  the  Emperor's  German  and 
Spanish  troops — a  revenge  for  the  Pope's 
having  encouraged  this  very  League,  and  for 
his  having  partly  sided  with  the  French. 


THE   GREAT   CAPTAINS  251 

Later  in  the  year  1526  a  certain  German 
commander,  named  George  Frundsberg,  was 
called  into  Italy  by  the  Emperor  and  by  the 
Constable  de  Bourbon.  Frundsberg  had  with 
him  a  number  of  German  and  Tyrolese  troops, 
some  of  them  very  ferocious  men,  and  with 
them  he  swooped  down  upon  Lombardy. 
Some  of  Frundsberg's  men  were  fanatical 
Lutherans,  and  an  old  story  says  that  Frunds- 
berg himself  brought  with  him  a  chain  with 
which  he  hoped  to  bind  the  Pope.  He  is 
said  to  have  been  anxious  to  try  some  great 
attack  on  Rome,  and  also  to  rescue  his  son, 
who  was  shut  up  in  Milan.  Giovanni  and  his 
Black  Bands  met  these  terrible  forces  in  the 
marshy  country  near  Mantua,  and  fought 
splendidly  against  them.  But  one  day,  when 
he  was  pursuing  them  with  his  usual  daring 
and  valour,  he  was  badly  wounded  in  the  leg 
by  a  cannon-ball,  and  had  to  be  carried  by  his 
soldiers  to  the  town  of  Mantua,  which  was 
about  eight  miles  away.  The  surgeons  told 
him  that  his  leg  would  have  to  be  cut  off 
if  his  life  was  to  be  saved,  and  they  proposed 
that  some  of  his  soldiers  should  hold  him  while 
the  dreadful  operation  was  being  performed. 
You  remember  that  people  had  to  bear  all  the 
pain  in  those  days,  as  there  was  no  chloroform 
to  8five  them.  But  when  Giovanni  heard  of 
the  plan,   he  smiled  and   said,   "  Twenty  men 


252      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

would  not  hold  me  if  I  did  not  choose  that 
they  should !  "  Taking  the  candle,  he  held  it 
so  that  the  surgeon  could  see,  and  he  never 
changed  either  in  his  face  or  his  voice,  except 
just  when  the  bone  was  being  sawn  through, 
and  then  he  twice  cried  out.  When  all  was 
done,  he  had  the  leg  brought  to  him  to  look 
at,  and  sighed,  grieving  more  that  his  career 
was  ended  than  for  the  thought  of  death.  The 
amputation  did  not  save  his  life,  and  Giovanni 
died  a  very  few  days  afterwards.  He  was  not 
quite  twenty-eight  years  old. 

We  are  told  that  Giovanni  de'  Medici  was 
of  middle  height  and  pale ;  he  wore  a  short 
beard.  He  had  a  terrifying  voice,  and  was 
very  powerful,  so  that  none  could  resist  him. 
In  athletic  exercises  he  had  no  rival,  and  he 
was  such  a  strong  swimmer  that  he  twice 
swam  across  the  river  Po  with  his  steel  cuirass 
on.  He  was  simple  in  his  food  and  his  dress, 
and  although  he  was  so  terrible  in  war,  he 
was  most  generous  to  his  soldiers  and  his 
servants. 

Lawless  as  he  was  in  many  ways,  Giovanni 
kept  very  stern  rules  in  his  camp,  and  his 
military  discipline  was  very  severe.  Places 
of  honour  and  command  were  given  only  to 
those  who  deserved  them.  The  lazy  and 
cowardly  were  driven  out  of  the  camp. 
Sometimes,    indeed,   they   were   put   to  death 


THE  GREAT  CAPTAINS  253 

by  Giovanni's  orders,  and  sometimes  he  even 
slew  them  with  his  own  sword. 

But  he  never  asked  his  soldiers  to  do 
what  he  shirked  doing  himself.  He  was 
always  the  first  in  the  saddle  and  the  last  to 
dismount ;  he  did  not  merely  bid  his  men 
advance,  but  he  dashed  on  and  bade  them 
follow  him. 

There  was  a  very  fine  and  strong  spirit  of 
fellowship  among  those  fierce  soldiers  of  the 
Black  Bands  ;  they  would  run  any  risk  to  save 
their  comrades-in-arms. 

It  is  said  that  Giovanni  himself  once  rushed 
almost  alone  into  the  midst  of  the  enemy 
in  order  to  rescue  one  of  his  captains,  who 
had  been  taken  prisoner.  He  made  such 
a  desperate  onslaught  with  his  battle-mace, 
shouting  in  his  terrible  voice  and  spurring  on 
his  horse,  that  the  enemy  was  scared,  and 
Giovanni  saved  his  man  from  their  hands. 

But  in  spite  of  their  loyalty  to  one  another 
in  battle,  these  soldiers  used  to  quarrel  and 
fight  among  themselves  when  they  were  not 
fighting  with  any  one  else.  Giovanni  often 
rebuked  them  for  this,  and  at  last  was 
determined  to  punish  them.  So  one  day, 
at  the  town  of  Fano,  when  two  of  his  bravest 
soldiers  had  got  into  a  quarrel,  Giovanni 
locked  them  up  in  a  room  together,  telling 
them  that  now,  as  they  had  begun,  they  must 


254     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

fight  to  a  finish,  and  that  only  one  should 
come  out  of  that  room  alive,  for  one  had  to  be 
slain.  The  men  fought  until  they  sank  ex- 
hausted to  the  ground,  and  still  Giovanni 
refused  to  open  the  door.  At  last  a  friend 
begged  so  hard  for  mercy  that  he  did  open  it, 
and  the  two  warriors  were  found  lying  covered 
with  blood  and  more  dead  than  alive.  After 
that  there  was  no  more  fighting  among  the 
soldiers  at  Fano. 

It  is  said  that  Giovanni  had  very  useful  plans 
for  remounting  his  cavalry  when  they  lost 
their  good  horses.  For  instance,  if  he  met 
a  friar  ambling  comfortably  along  on  horse- 
back, he  would  come  up  to  him,  and,  offering 
him  the  most  broken-down  old  horse  in  the 
company,  he  would  say  to  him,  "  Father,  this 
horse  will  carry  you  quite  nicely  to  your 
Chapter-meeting  ;  your  nag  will  do  well  for 
fighting.  So  go  your  ways."  We  can  imagine 
the  friar's  feelings !  Possibly,  though,  he  was 
glad  that  nothing  worse  happened  to  him. 

One  reason  for  Giovanni  de'  Medici  being 
so  important  in  the  history  of  his  time  was 
that  his  famous  Bands  were  the  only  real, 
independent  Italian  company  in  the  whole 
peninsula,  and  they  were  thus  a  kind  of 
beginning  of  a  national  army  once  more. 

Giovanni's  troops  were  chiefly  what  we  call 
'Might  horse,"  and  he  is  thought  to  have  first 


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THE  GREAT  CAPTAINS  255 

started    the  idea  of  troops  which    could   fight 
both  on  horse  and  on  foot. 

The  Black  Bands  did  not  disperse  directly 
after  Giovanni's  death.  He  had  left  behind 
him  several  captains,  who  afterwards  became 
famous,  and  under  these  leaders  the  Black 
Bands  served  in  other  wars  in  different  parts 
of  Italy. 

In  1528  they  joined  with  the  French  army 
at  Naples,  and  fought  against  the  Spanish. 
They  also  helped  to  defend  Florence  during 
the  great  siege  of  1529-30,  when  she  was 
attacked  by  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor,  and 
when  she  finally  lost  her  independence. 

Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere  married  Maria 
Salviata,  a  grand-daughter  of  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent.  Their  son,  Cosimo,  became  the 
first  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany.  As  you  already 
know,  he  began  to  reign  in  1537,  and  the 
descendants  of  our  wild  and  splendid  Giovanni 
reigned  over  Florence  and  Tuscany  for  two 
hundred  years. 

(5)  II  Medeghino 

We  will  tell  just  one  more  of  these  strange 
tales  of  adventure  to  show  what  extraordinary 
things  it  was  possible  for  a  clever  and  daring 
man  to  do  in  those  days. 

Curiously  enough,  the  man  of  whom  we  are 
going  to  speak  was  also  called  Medici,  but  he 


256     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

was  no  relation  of  the  great  Florentine  family 
of  that  name.  His  people  belonged  to  Milan, 
where  he  was  born  in  1498,  the  same  year  as 
Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere.  His  name  in 
full  was  Gian-Giacomo  de'  Medici ;  but  as  he 
was  usually  known  as  the  Medeghino,  we  will 
call  him  so  in  this  short  sketch  of  his  life. 

You  must  notice  that  the  Medeghino  was  not 
exactly  a  "  condottiere,"  or  captain,  like  the 
other  men  in  this  chapter.  He  was  not  the 
leader  of  a  regular  company  which  served  in 
various  campaigns  ;  he  was  really  a  very  clever, 
courageous,  and  unscrupulous  adventurer,  who 
simply  fought  for  his  own  hand.  The  days 
of  the  real  "  condottieri "  were  then  almost 
past. 

When  the  Medeghino  was  only  sixteen,  he 
was  banished  from  Milan  for  the  murder  of 
an  enemy — an  act  of  which  he  did  not  seem 
to  be  ashamed,  but  which  obliged  him  and 
his  family  to  take  refuge  near  the  Lake  of 
Como.  He  then  determined  to  be  a  soldier, 
and  became  a  captain  of  mercenaries,  rather 
in  the  same  way  as  the  "  condottieri  "  of  former 
days.  At  the  time  when  the  Medeghino 
began  his  career  as  a  soldier  of  fortune,  the 
French,  Swiss,  Germans,  and  Spanish  were 
all  fighting  for  the  mastery  in  Lombardy. 
As  you  have  just  read,  Milan  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  French,  and  it  was  governed  by 


THE   GREAT   CAPTAINS  257 

the  Sieur  de  Lautrec,  as  lieutenant  of  Francis  1. 
in  Italy.  You  will  remember  how  Giovanni 
and  his  Black  Bands  served  under  Lautrec  for 
a  time.  In  152 1  Pope  Leo  x.  and  the  Emperor 
Charles  v.  made  a  "Holy  League"  for  the 
purpose  of  driving  out  the  French,  and  a  plan 
was  formed  in  Milan  for  bringing  back  the 
Duke  Francesco  Sforza  and  reinstating  him 
in  his  capital.  Lautrec  prepared  to  fight  the 
Papal  and  Imperial  forces.  He  left  the  castle 
of  Milan  garrisoned,  but  came  out  himself 
with  his  army.  As  we  know,  he  suffered  a 
great  defeat  near  Milan,  at  a  place  called 
La  Bicocca.  Meanwhile,  the  Medeghino  had 
been  very  busy  helping  in  the  plan  for  bring- 
ing the  Duke  back  to  Milan.  This  particular 
plot  seems  to  have  been  found  out  and  punished; 
but,  nevertheless,  Duke  Francesco  Sforza  did 
come  back,  and  entered  Milan  amid  the  wild 
delight  of  the  people. 

The  Medeghino  came  back  to  Milan  for 
a  time,  and  he  was  appointed  to  reduce  the 
country  round  the  Lake  of  Como  to  order. 
He  took  advantage  of  this  commission  to  make 
himself  more  and  more  powerful,  and  to  take 
vengeance  on  the  enemies  who  had  caused 
his  exile. 

The  Medeghino  set  out  to  subdue  the  people 
round    the    lake,  and    the    last    fortress    which 
surrendered  to  him  was  the  castle  of  Musso,  a 
'7 


258      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

splendid  stronghold  near  the  northern   end  of 
the  Lake  of  Como. 

The  Medeghino  set  his  heart  on  being  made 
governor  of  this  castle,  which  was  built  in  a 
wonderful  position  on  a  great  rock  right  up  above 
the  lake.  Below  it  was  a  precipice,  sheer  down 
into  the  water,  and  behind  were  the  moun- 
tains, so  that  it  was  defended  on  all  sides. 
There  had  been  a  tower  at  Musso  from  ancient 
times,  but  the  Visconti  had  added  a  fort,  and 
other  walls  and  defences  had  been  built.  The 
castle  commanded  a  long  sweep  of  the  lake, 
and  a  foe  could  be  seen  coming  either  from  the 
Swiss  side  or  the  Italian.  It  was  no  wonder 
the  Medeghino  thought  he  should  dearly  like  to 
be  master  of  Musso. 

Hoping  to  win  this  coveted  prize,  he  went 
to  Milan  to  beg  the  Duke  to  appoint  him 
governor  of  Musso.  The  Duke  would  not 
give  him  a  straight  answer;  but  at  last  he  hinted 
that,  if  the  Medeghino  could  manage  to  get  rid 
of  a  certain  popular  young  nobleman  called 
Astorre  Visconti,  he  might  perhaps  receive  the 
governorship  of  Musso  as  a  reward. 

The  Medeghino,  sad  to  say,  did  not  at  all 
object  to  this  murderous  and  treacherous  busi- 
ness, so  he  got  Astorre  Visconti  killed,  and 
then  claimed  the  Duke's  promise. 

We  are  told  that  by  the  advice  of  a  very 
clever   and   cunning   Milanese   statesman,   the 


THE   GREAT   CAPTAINS  259 

Medeghino  was  sent  to  Musso,  taking  with  him 
an  open  letter  from  the  Duke  of  Milan  to  the 
governor  of  the  castle.  In  this  letter  the 
governor  was  ordered  to  give  up  the  castle  of 
Musso  to  the  Medeghino  ;  but  with  the  open 
letter  there  was  a  sealed  letter,  also  addressed 
to  the  governor.  This  made  the  Medeghino 
suspicious ;  he  knew  his  men,  and  did  not  trust 
them.  So  he  opened  the  sealed  letter,  and 
found  that  it  contained  an  order  to  the  governor 
of  Musso  to  put  him,  the  Medeghino,  to  death. 
He  destroyed  this  letter  and  presented  the 
other  to  the  governor,  who  thereupon  gave  up 
the  fortress. 

Thus,  at  last,  the  Medeghino  got  hold  of 
Musso.  He  at  once  began  to  fortify  it  more 
and  more,  and  all  kinds  of  outlaws  and  robbers 
collected  there  under  his  protection  and  leader- 
ship. 

When  the  Medeghino  had  settled  and  forti- 
fied himself  to  his  satisfaction  at  Musso,  he 
began  to  live  like  a  kind  of  bandit  chief,  think- 
ing of  nothing  and  caring  for  nothing  except  of 
gaining  power  and  possessions  for  himself,  no 
matter  how. 

He  thought  he  would  gain  favour  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Duke  of  Milan  by  fighting  the  Swiss 
from  the  Grisons,  who  were  travelling  down  to 
the  Lake  of  Como  on  their  way  to  join  the 
army  of  Francis  1.     He  burned  all  the  boats  on 


26o      STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN-  HISTORY 

the  lake,  except  those  he  wanted  for  himself, 
and  he  pushed  the  war  so  far  into  Swiss  terri- 
tory that  the  Swiss  troops  had  to  be  hurried 
back  from  Italy  to  defend  their  own  homes. 

Indeed,  it  may  truly  be  said  that  the  Mede- 
ghino had  a  great  hand  in  the  defeat  of  Francis  i. 
at  the  battle  of  Pavia, — where,  you  remember, 
Francis  was  taken  prisoner, — because  it  was 
iust  before  that  battle  that  the  Swiss  soldiers 
had  to  return  and  fight  for  their  own  country. 

In  1526  the  Duke  Francesco  Sforza  was 
turned  out  of  Milan,  and  the  Marquis  of 
Pescara  held  the  city  in  the  name  of  the 
Emperor  Charles  v.  This  was  the  time  when, 
as  you  have  just  read,  the  Italian  princes  made 
a  league  to  defend  their  independence  against 
Spain,  and  Giovanni  de'  Medici  and  his  Black 
Bands  were  helping  to  save  Milan,  but  in  vain. 

The  Medeghino  refused  to  obey  the  Spanish, 
and  fought  successfully  against  them  both  by 
land  and  by  water.  He  had  a  real  navy  on  the 
Lake  of  Como,  with  large  vessels,  small  boats, 
and  a  flagship,  from  which  his  banner  floated. 

The  Spaniards  thought  it  would  be  wiser 
to  try  to  win  him  over  by  friendliness,  so 
Charles  v.  gave  him  the  castle  of  Musso  and 
the  lordship  of  a  great  part  of  the  lake.  The 
Medeghino  now  took  the  titles  of  Marquis 
of  Musso  and  Count  of  Lecco,  and  considered 
himself  to  be  a  sovereign  prince.      He  coined 


THE   GREAT   CAPTAINS  261 

money  with  his  own  name  and  device,  just  like 
other  princes. 

It  is  clear  that  he  intended  to  make  himself 
yet  more  powerful  if  he  could,  for  in  1529,  when 
Duke  Francesco  Sforza  was  again  restored  to 
the  duchy  of  Milan,  the  Medeghino  refused 
to  obey  his  former  lord,  and  began  to  attack 
the  Grisons  once  more.  He  pretended  to  be 
acting  under  the  Duke's  orders,  but  he  was 
really  doing  just  what  he  chose  himself.  At 
first  his  attack  succeeded,  but  only  for  a  time. 
The  Swiss  rose  against  him  in  great  numbers, 
and  the  Duke  of  Milan  sent  forces  both  by  land 
and  by  water  to  subdue  him.  The  Medeghino 
was  defeated  in  a  battle  on  the  lake,  near  the 
beautiful  little  town  of  Menaggio.  But,  in  spite 
of  this,  he  went  on  fighting  courageously,  and 
gained  some  victories  over  his  enemies.  He 
drove  some  of  them  out,  he  rolled  the  Swiss 
cannon  into  the  lake,  and  he  took  the  Duke 
of  Mantua  prisoner.  However,  in  the  end  he 
was  outnumbered  ;  his  forces  were  too  much 
weakened  to  go  on  ;  he  had  no  more  money, 
and  so  he  was  finally  obliged  to  give  in. 

Yet,  although  he  was  defeated,  he  was  allowed 
to  retire  with  all  the  honours  of  war.  A  free 
pardon  was  granted  not  only  to  the  Medeghino 
himself,  but  to  his  family  and  followers.  He 
had  to  give  up  Musso  and  all  his  lands  and 
defences  on  the  lake,  but  in  return  he  received 


262      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

a  very  large  sum  of  money  from  the  Duke  of 
Milan,  and  was  made  Marquis  of  Marignano,  by 
which  name  he  was  generally  known  in  Europe. 

The  Medeghino  left  Musso  in  1532,  grieving 
bitterly  at  having  to  give  up  his  beloved 
fortress  and  all  the  shore  that  was  so  dear  to 
him.  We  are  told  that  no  sooner  had  he  set 
sail  than  the  Duke  of  Milan's  Swiss  troops 
made  a  rush  on  the  castle,  to  sack  and  destroy 
it.  The  Medeghino  was  so  furious  that  he 
ordered  the  ship  to  put  back,  as  if  he  were 
going  to  land  and  attack  the  Swiss.  The  Swiss 
fled  at  once,  and  did  not  venture  back  until  the 
Medeghino  and  his  fleet  were  out  of  sight. 

Afterwards,  the  castle  was  dismantled  and 
destroyed,  and  only  a  very  few  remains  can  now 
be  seen  on  the  steep  rocks  above  the  blue 
waters  of  Lake  Como.  The  Medeghino  took 
service  under  Spain,  and  soon  rose  to  be  a  field- 
marshal.  He  fought  for  Charles  v.  in  the 
Netherlands  and  in  Hungary,  where  he  fought 
against  the  Protestants.  He  then  ruled 
Bohemia  for  a  time  as  Spanish  Viceroy. 

After  this,  he  became  general  of  the  league 
formed  by  the  Pope,  the  Emperor,  and  Duke 
Cosimo  1.  for  the  purpose  of  crushing  the 
liberties  of  Tuscany.  He  subdued  the  city  of 
Siena  by  a  very  cruel  siege,  when  he  seems  to 
have  been  more  ruthless,  proud,  and  greedy 
than  ever. 


THE   GREAT   CAPTAINS  263 

The  Medeghino  died  in  1555,  soon  after 
the  sieee  of  Siena.  He  was  first  buried  at 
Marignano,  but  the  funeral  service  took  place 
with  great  pomp  in  the  Cathedral  of  Milan. 
In  1562  his  body  was  brought  from  Marignano 
and  buried  in  Milan  Cathedral  by  order  of 
his  brother,  Pope  Pius  iv.  There  is  a  mag- 
nificent monument  to  him  in  the  Cathedral, 
the  work  of  the  sculptor  Leone  Leoni,  who 
came  from  Menaggio,  on  the  Lake  of  Como, 
the  very  place  near  which  the  Medeghino  had 
been  defeated  during  his  last  struggle  for 
independence.  As  has  just  been  mentioned, 
one  of  the  Medeghino's  brothers  became  Pope 
Pius  iv.  One  of  his  sisters  married  Count 
Giberto  Borromeo,  and  became  the  mother 
of  St.  Carlo  Borromeo,  the  famous  Archbishop 
of  Milan. 

Such  is  the  strange  story  of  this  man, 
whom  an  Italian  historian  calls  "  pirate,  king, 
brigand,  liar,  rebel,  assassin,  and  hero."  We 
see  how,  in  a  very  few  years,  he  raised 
himself  from  obscurity  to  the  position  of  a 
ruling  prince,  and  how,  even  after  his  fall, 
he  became  one  of  the  chief  commanders  in 
Italy,  and  indeed  in  Europe. 

We  have  spoken  of  only  a  very  few  of  those 
great  captains,  but  there  were  many  others 
equally  brave  and  clever,  and  some  of  them 
equally  famous. 


264      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

This  story  would  grow  far  too  long  if  we 
tried  to  describe  the  harm  done  in  Italy  by 
these  companies  of  mercenaries  and  their 
leaders.  They  may  not  all  have  been  bad  or 
treacherous  men.  Indeed,  we  know  they  were 
not.  But,  as  we  said  before,  the  plan  of 
hiring  bands  of  foreign  soldiers,  first  under 
this  commander,  and  then  under  that,  was  bad 
for  every  one- — for  the  Italian  princes  and 
states,  for  the  people,  and  for  the  captains 
and  soldiers  themselves.  It  was  a  good  thing 
when,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  various 
states  of  Italy  made  a  beginning  of  having 
national  armies  once  more,  and  of  making  the 
citizens  defend  their  own  countries. 

But  better  still,  by  far,  is  the  great  United 
Italy  we  now  see,  defended  by  her  own 
children,  who  are  no  longer  divided  up  into 
different  states  at  war  one  with  another. 


IX 
THE  LILIES  OF  FRANCE 

"  Up,  princes  !     And  with  spirit  of  honour  edged 
More  sharper  than  your  swords,  hie  to  the  field." 

Shakespeare,  He?ity  v. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  Lilies  of 
Florence,  and  now,  in  this  last  story,  we 
shall  speak  of  some  other  lilies — the  golden 
Lilies  of  France,  which  so  often  appear  in 
the  history  of  Italy,  and  which  played  a  very 
important  part  in  that  history. 

Indeed,  the  French  were  so  closely  connected 
with  Italian  history  that  much  of  this  chapter 
will  remind  you  of  what  you  have  been  reading 
in  several  other  stories  in  this  book.  This 
is  the  reason  that  it  has  been  placed  last,  in 
order  that  it  may  recall  and  sum  up  a  good 
deal  of  what  has  been  told  before. 

We  learn  something"  about  the  Gauls  and 
their  country  when  we  read  the  history  of 
ancient  Rome,  but  that  does  not  belong  to 
these  present  stories  of  ours. 

In  the  chapter  about  the  popes  and  emperors 

you  read  about  Pepin  and  his  son,  the  famous 

265 


266      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Charlemagne,  and  how  they  led  their  hosts  of 
Frankish  warriors  across  the  wild  Alpine 
passes  to  help  and  defend  the  Popes  against 
the  fierce  Lombards. 

You  have  read  how  Charlemagne  was 
crowned  Emperor  on  Christmas  Day,  800,  as 
he  stood  before  the  tomb  of  St.  Peter  in  St. 
Peter's  at  Rome. 

You  also  read  how  his  son,  Pepin,  failed  to 
conquer  the  brave  Venetians,  and  how  Venice 
managed  to  keep  her  freedom  and  independence 
in  spite  of  her  mighty  neighbours  and  foes. 

All  this  belongs  to  the  first  coming  of  the 
Franks  into  Italy,  when  they  were  called 
into  Italy  by  the  Pope.  We  shall  see  how 
often  the  French  were  called  into  Italy 
in  after  years,  sometimes  by  the  Pope,  and 
once  or  twice  by  other  Italian  princes,  generally 
to  their  own  undoing. 

The  coming  of  the  Franks  brings  to  our 
minds  the  country  we  now  know  as  France 
— a  kingdom  which  was  formed,  or  began  to 
be  formed,  at  the  time  when  Charlemagne's 
vast  empire  was  divided  in  843. 

The  golden  lilies  from  which  this  chapter 
takes  its  name  were  for  hundreds  and  hundreds 
of  years  the  emblem  of  France,  and  were  borne 
on  the  royal  shield  and  banner.  You  may  see 
the  shield  of  St.  Louis,  King  of  France,  with 
its  lilies,  carved  on  the  walls  of  Westminster 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  267 

Abbey,  close  to  that  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  11., 
which  bears  the  Imperial  eagle. 

One  story  tells  us  that  the  lily  was  brought 
from  heaven  by  an  angel  and  given  to  Clovis, 
King  of  the  Franks,  who  had  vowed  to  become 
a  Christian  if  he  were  victorious  over  the 
Alemanni  at  the  battle  at  Tolbiac  in  496. 
You  remember  that  Clovis  was  baptized  at 
Reims  by  the  bishop,  St.  Remi,  on  the 
Christmas  Day  of  that  same  year.  Another 
account  says  that  the  fleur-de-lis,  as  it  is 
generally  called,  was  used  as  an  emblem  by 
Hugues  Capet  and  all  his  descendants — that 
long  line  of  kings  which  lasted  from  the  year 
987,  when  Hugues  Capet,  Duke  of  France  and 
Count  of  Paris,  was  proclaimed  King,  to  1848, 
when  the  French  monarchy  ended.  The  fleur- 
de-lis  seems  to  have  been  first  used  in  heraldry 
in  the  time  of  Louis  vii.  (or  "le  Jeune"),  who 
reigned  from  1 1 37  to  11 80;  it  appears  on  a 
seal  of  King  Philip  Augustus  of  France  in 
1 1 80,  the  year  he  came  to  the  throne. 

But  we  must  go  on  to  consider  some  of  the 
more  notable  occasions  on  which  the  fleur-de-lis 
appears  in  Italian  history. 

In  the  thirteenth  century  the  Popes  again 
turned  to  France  for  help,  this  time  against 
the  Imperial  House  of  Hohenstaufen,  who 
were  making  the  Empire  too  powerful  and 
defying  the  Pope's  authority  in  various  ways. 


268      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

At  the  time  of  which  we  are  speaking,  the 
great  Emperor  Frederick  n.,  grandson  of 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  was  reigning.  He  was 
famous  for  his  brilliant  early  success,  for  his 
wonderful  abilities  and  learning,  and  perhaps, 
too,  for  his  signal  misfortunes.  As  the  Emperor 
represented  the  unity  and  independence  of 
the  State,  he  was  constantly  fighting  with  the 
Pope ;  yet  he  often  defended  the  Pope  from 
the  attacks  of  enemies.  The  Pope,  on  his 
part,  did  not  want  the  State  to  be  in- 
dependent of  his  authority,  and  therefore  he 
favoured  the  revolt  of  the  Italian  communes 
against  the  Emperor,  and  used  every  weapon 
in  his  power  to  lessen  the  Emperor's  position. 

Frederick  n.  died  in  the  year  1250.  His 
heir  was  his  son,  Conrad,  whose  succession  to 
the  Imperial  crown  was  disputed  by  another 
prince,  William  of  Holland. 

You  have  already  heard  the  name  of  another 
son  of  Frederick  11.,  the  gallant  Manfred,  who 
was  renowned  not  only  as  a  soldier,  but  as 
a  poet.  By  his  father's  will  Manfred  was 
left  as  Conrad's  lieutenant  in  Southern  Italy. 
Conrad  was  at  that  time  in  Germany,  but 
Manfred  begged  him  to  come  to  Italy  and 
defend  the  Imperial  authority  against  the  Pope. 

Conrad  accordingly  came,  and  in  1253  he 
made  a  triumphal  entry  into  Naples.  For  this 
he    was   excommunicated    by    the    Pope,    who 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  269 

considered  that  the  Emperor  had  no  right  to 
the  kingdom  of  Naples  unless  he  had  been 
invested  with  it  by  the  Pope. 

The  next  year,  1254,  Conrad  died,  leaving 
his  infant  son,  Conradin,  as  his  successor.  But 
the  question  immediately  arose  as  to  who  was 
to  be  King  of  Naples  and  Sicily — a  kingdom 
which  had  really  been  formed  by  the  Norman 
conquerors  of  Sicily  and  Southern  Italy,  and 
with  which  they  had  been  invested  by  Pope 
Leo  ix.  In  allowing  the  Normans  to  become 
Kings  of  Naples  and  Sicily  (or  of  "  the  Two 
Sicilies,"  as  it  was  called),  Pope  Leo  ix.  was 
following  the  example  of  Pope  Leo  in.  when 
he  gave  the  Imperial  crown  to  Charlemagne. 
We  thus  see  that  the  Popes  claimed,  not  only 
the  right  of  taking  away  kingdoms,  but  also 
the  right  of  bestowing  them.  The  kingdom 
of  the  Two  Sicilies  had  passed  by  inheritance 
to  the  Imperial  House  of  Hohenstaufen,  but 
the  Pope  still  considered  that  they  held  it  by 
right  of  investiture  by  him,  and  that  therefore 
he  could  give  it  to  whom  he  pleased. 

Pope  Innocent  iv.  wanted  to  get  rid  of  these 
too  powerful  Hohenstaufen  princes,  so  he 
thought  of  offering  the  crown  of  Naples  to 
Charles  of  Anjou,  brother  of  King  Louis  ix. 
of  France.  However,  there  were  hesitations 
and  difficulties  about  it  at  the  French  court, 
and  the  Pope  then  turned  to  England. 


270      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN    HISTORY 

He  offered  the  crown  to  Henry  in.  for  his 
second  son,  Edmund  Crouchback,  first  Earl 
of  Lancaster,  begging  that  the  little  prince 
might  be  sent  to  Italy  with  an  army  to  fight 
against  Manfred.  This  plan,  as  we  know,  came 
to  nothing.  The  only  result,  as  far  as  England 
was  concerned,  was  that  the  nation  had  to  pay 
a  vast  sum  in  marks  of  silver  in  order  to 
support  Prince  Edmund's  claim  and  satisfy 
the  Papal  demands. 

Now  Manfred  was  at  that  time  the  real 
master  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies, 
having  conquered  it  by  force  of  arms.  He 
saw  that  the  Pope  seemed  unlikely  to  find  a 
powerful  prince  to  come  and  take  the  crown, 
so  he  resolved  on  a  bold  step.  He  had  himself 
proclaimed  King,  and  was  crowned  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Palermo  in  August  1258.  Much 
norhting  and  confusion  followed.  Manfred  was 
excommunicated,  and  had  to  fight  against 
other  Italian  states,  which  were  stirred  up 
against  him  by  the  Popes.  This  was  perhaps 
the  greatest  Guelf  and  Ghibelline  fight  of  all. 

In  1 26 1  a  French  pope  was  elected,  who 
reigned  under  the  title  of  Urban  iv.  He  was 
determined  to  drive  King  Manfred  out,  so  he 
began  by  again  offering  the  kingdom  of  the 
Two  Sicilies  to  Edmund  Crouchback  ;  but  as 
England  once  more  declined  the  offer,  he 
decided  to   invite    Charles   of  Anjou  to  come 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  271 

and  conquer  the  kingdom  and  wrest  it  from 
King  Manfred. 

This  time  the  offer  was  accepted.  Charles 
was  an  ambitious  man,  cruel  and  unscrupulous, 
and  was  quite  ready  to  make  the  dangerous 
attempt.  His  wife,  Beatrice  of  Provence,  was 
equally  ambitious,  and  even  pawned  her  jewels 
in  order  to  get  money  for  the  war.  This  lady, 
Beatrice  of  Provence,  was  the  sister  of  Eleanor, 
wife  of  Henry  in.  of  England,  and  was  one 
of  those  four  sisters  of  whom  Dante  says  that 
they  were  "each  one  a  queen."  The  two 
other  sisters  were  Margaret,  married  to  King 
Louis  ix.  of  France,  and  Sanchia,  married  to 
Richard,  Earl  of  Cornwall,  who,  later  on,  was 
elected  King  of  the  Romans,  and  who  wanted 
very  much  to  be  Emperor. 

In  October  1264  Pope  Urban  iv.  died.  He 
was  succeeded,  in  1265,  by  Pope  Clement  iv., 
who  was  a  native  of  Provence,  and  thus 
naturally  inclined  to  favour  the  coming  of 
Charles  of  Anjou  and  his  Provencal  wife. 
The  new  Pope  did  all  he  could  to  help  the 
French,  and  the  people  who  gave  him  most 
support  were  the  great  Guelf  bankers  at 
Florence.  They  were  only  too  glad  of  a 
chance  of  fighting  the  Ghibellines  successfully, 
and  were  also  well  satisfied  with  their  large 
commercial  gains. 

Charles  of  Anjou  set  out  for  Italy  in  April 


272      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

1265,  and  sailed  for  the  Latin  coast.  Every- 
thing seemed  to  favour  him,  but  the  stars  in 
their  courses  seemed  to  fight  against  the 
valiant  King  Manfred.  To  begin  with,  a 
storm  prevented  Manfred's  fleet  from  getting 
near  the  shore ;  but  Charles  made  a  bold 
venture,  and  actually  succeeded  in  landing, 
though  the  wind  swept  him  away  from  the  rest 
of  his  ships.  His  boat  managed  to  reach  the 
shore  not  far  from  the  Tiber  ;  he  was  received 
with  the  greatest  joy  by  his  Guelf  friends  and 
supporters,  and  was  taken  to  the  Convent  of  St. 
Paul  without  the  Walls.  His  fleet  was  not  long 
in  reaching  the  Tiber  also,  and  Charles  made  a 
solemn  entry  into  Rome  on  May  23rd,  1265. 

In  January  1266  Charles  of  Anjou  and  his 
wife  were  crowned  King  and  Queen  of  Naples 
and  Sicily  in  St.  Peter's,  Rome.  In  the 
February  of  the  same  year  the  two  armies  met 
at  Benevento,  and  after  a  desperate  fight  King 
Manfred  was  defeated  and  slain.  When 
Manfred  saw  that  some  of  the  nobles  had 
deserted  him,  and  that  all  was  lost,  he  threw 
off  his  royal  insignia,  put  on  his  helmet,  and 
rushed  into  the  battle  to  die. 

The  story  of  Manfred's  burial  is  sad  enough. 
After  two  days  of  vain  search,  his  body  was 
found,  so  terribly  disfigured  by  wounds  that 
even  his  enemies  wept  to  see  it.  The  French 
had  greatly  admired  his  splendid  courage  and 


o 


K 


2    -en 


Oh 

—        ■•-» 


"-• 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  273 

valour,  and  wished  to  give  him  honoured  and 
Christian  burial.  But  Charles  of  Anjou  was 
an  ungenerous  and  pitiless  foe,  and  he  would 
not  allow  any  funeral  ceremony.  He  said 
that,  as  Manfred  had  died  excommunicated,  his 
body  could  not  rest  in  consecrated  ground. 
The  body  was  therefore  left  near  the  bridge 
at  Benevento,  and  each  soldier  cast  a  stone 
upon  it,  thus  making  a  kind  of  cairn,  such  as 
used  to  be  sometimes  raised  over  the  grave 
of  a  hero  in  ancient  times. 

But  even  this  much  rest  was  denied  to  the 
bones  of  Manfred.  The  Archbishop  of  Capua 
said  that  the  body  could  not  be  allowed  to 
remain  within  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  so  he 
ordered  it  to  be  taken  up  from  its  rude  resting- 
place  and  thrown  out  beyond  the  frontier, 
exposed  to  the  wind  and  rain,  somewhere  near 
the  river  Liri  or  Verde. 

This  piece  of  mean  and  spiteful  revenge  on 

a  fallen  foe  is  the  subject  of  one  of  the  loveliest 

passages  in  Dante's  Divine  Comedy,  where  he 

tells  us  how,  beneath  the  sweet  skies  of  the 

Mount   of   Purgatory,  he  meets  one  of  noble 

mien,    golden-haired   and    fair   to    look   upon. 

This  spirit  shows  him  how  he  bears  a  wound 

on    his    breast,    and    then,    smiling,    says    to 

him,    '- 1  am   Manfred,  grandson    of   Empress 

Constance."     He  goes  on  to  describe  how  he 

died,  "pierced  by  two  mortal  stabs,"  and  how 
18 


274     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

his  body  had  been  torn  from  its  resting-place 
and  cast  forth  beneath  the  storms  and  rain. 
But  he  adds  that  the  Eternal  Love  is  not 
bound  by  human  hatreds  and  curses,  and  that, 
as  he  trusted  in  the  Divine  mercy,  he  was 
saved  in  spite  of  his  "horrible  transgressions." 

After  this  great  victory,  Charles  of  Anjou 
began  to  treat  the  Imperial  family  with  the 
most  disgraceful  cruelty,  just,  indeed,  as  the 
Norman  Royal  House  had  been  treated  by 
Manfred's  own  grandfather,  the  Emperor 
Henry  vi.  Manfred's  widow  and  four  young 
children  died  in  prison  some  years  afterwards, 
and,  meanwhile,  there  only  remained  Manfred's 
nephew,  the  young  Conradin,  who  was  the 
rightful  heir  of  the  Hohenstaufen  House.  He 
was  still  quite  a  boy,  but  he  was  full  of  courage, 
and  he  came  into  Italy  to  try  once  more  to  rally 
the  Imperial  party  and  to  defend  the  cause  of 
the  Empire. 

The  armies  met  once  again  in  deadly 
combat,  this  time  near  Tagliacozzo.  They 
faced  one  another  on  each  side  of  the 
river  Salto,  not  far  from  the  Lake  of  Fucino. 
Although  Conradin  had  much  the  larger  army, 
he  was  defeated,  and  was  escorted  by  his 
friends  to  Rome,  where  he  thought  he  should 
find  support.  But  he  soon  saw  he  was  not 
safe  there,  and  he  fled  to  the  Mediterranean 
shore,  to  a  place  called  Astura.     You  may  see 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  275 

the  dark  Torre  Astura  as  you  look  across  the 
shining,  sapphire  sea  from  Porto  d'  Anzio,  and 
you  can  picture  the  brave  young  prince  with 
his  few  faithful  friends,  hoping  to  set  sail  for 
Pisa,  and  thus  get  into  safety.  Conradin  did 
set  out,  but  he  was  betrayed  and  brought  back 
by  Giovanni  Frangipani,  the  owner  of  the 
castle,  who  gave  him  up  to  Charles  of  Anjou. 
Charles  gave  him  a  kind  of  mock  trial,  and 
then  had  him  beheaded  in  the  market-place  of 
Naples,  together  with  some  of  his  friends. 
Thus,  by  treachery  and  cruelty,  the  last  prince 
of  the  Hohenstaufen  House  died,  and  the 
kingdom  of  Naples  and  Sicily  passed  to  the 
Lilies  of  France. 

King  Charles  1.  of  Naples  and  Sicily  is 
connected  with  a  story  which  is  very  inter- 
esting to  English  people.  To  begin  with,  we 
may  remind  ourselves  that  in  the  year  1265, 
when  Charles  landed  in  Italy,  the  Barons'  War 
was  going  on  and  the  battle  of  Evesham  was 
fought.  As  every  one  remembers,  Simon  de 
Montfort,  Earl  of  Leicester,  was  slain  at 
Evesham,  and  his  dead  body  was  very  ill- 
treated,  being  dragged  along  the  ground  in 
revengeful  fashion. 

Simon's  sons  went  off  to  Italy,  and  Guy  de 
Montfort,  who  succeeded  his  father  as  Earl  of 
Leicester,  became  Vicar  of  Charles  of  Anjou  in 
Tuscany. 


276     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Now  in  1 27 1  the  cardinals  met  in  con- 
clave in  the  ancient  town  of  Viterbo,  in  order 
to  elect  a  pope  as  successor  to  Clement  iv., 
who,  indeed,  had  died  three  years  before. 
This — 1 27 1 — was  the  year  after  the  last 
Crusade,  the  second  Crusade  of  St.  Louis, 
which  had  been  joined  by  Charles  of  Anjou 
and  by  the  English  princes,  Edward  (afterwards 
King  Edward  1.),  Edmund  Crouchback,  and 
Henry  d'Almain,  son  of  Richard,  Earl  of 
Cornwall. 

Charles  of  Anjou  had  persuaded  his  brother, 
King  Louis,  to  begin  by  fighting  the  infidel  in 
Africa,  as  he  wished  to  make  Tunis  pay  its 
tribute  to  Sicily.  Thus  the  Crusaders  landed 
first  at  Tunis,  where  King  Louis  died,  in 
1270. 

When  Charles  returned  from  Tunis  in  1271, 
he  went  off  to  Viterbo  to  watch  what  was  going 
on  at  the  conclave,  for  he  was  anxious  that  a 
pope  who  was  friendly  to  the  French  should 
be  chosen.     With  him  went  Guy  de  Montfort. 

To  Viterbo  came  also  the  other  princes  who 
were  on  their  way  home  from  the  Crusade,  and 
among  them  were  the  English  princes,  Edward, 
Edmund,  and  Henry  d'Almain. 

One  day  an  awful  deed  was  done.  The 
princes  were  at  Mass  in  the  Church  of  San 
Silvestro,  and  Guy  de  Montfort,  in  a  fury  of 
revenge  for  the  death  of  his  father  at  Evesham, 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  277 

fell  upon  Prince  Henry  d'Almain,  stabbed  him, 
and  slew  him  there  before  the  altar. 

A  knight  asked  him,  "  What  have  you 
done  ? " 

11 1  have  done  vengeance,"  answered  Guy  de 
Montfort. 

The  knight  replied,  "  How  then?  Your 
father's  body  was  trailed  on  the  ground." 

Then,  as  the  old  chronicler  says,  Guy  de 
Montfort  returned  immediately  to  the  church, 
"  took  Henry  by  the  hair,  and,  dead  as  he  was, 
he  dragged  him  vilely  from  the  church  "  into  the 
now  desolate  little  piazza  in  front. 

Guy  de  Montfort  had  to  fly,  as  he  was  guilty 
of  both  murder  and  sacrilege.  He  was  after- 
wards  excommunicated  by  Pope  Gregory  x.  ; 
but  Charles  of  Anjou  does  not  seem  to  have 
punished  him  very  severely,  and  we  are  not 
surprised  to  be  told  by  the  old  chronicler, 
Villani,  that  Prince  Edward,  when  he  became 
King,  "was  never  friendly  towards  King 
Charles  or  his  folk." 

The  heart  of  the  murdered  Prince  Henry 
was  put  into  a  golden  cup  and  brought  to 
Westminster  Abbey,  where  it  was  placed  near 
the  shrine  of  Edward  the  Confessor. 

This  horrible  crime  is  alluded  to  by  Dante 
in  the  Divine  Comedy,  and  he  speaks  of  the 
heart  of  Prince  Henry  as  "the  heart  which  is 
still  honoured  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames." 


278      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

But  we  must  return  to  Charles  of  Anjou  and 
his  history.  As  might  be  expected,  his  cruelties, 
oppressive  taxes,  and  tyranny  made  his  subjects 
turn  against  him,  and  in  March  1282  a  fearful 
revolution  took  place  in  Sicily.  This  revolution, 
which  actually  broke  out  at  Palermo,  is  known 
in  history  as  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  because  the 
fury  of  it  burst  forth  just  at  the  hour  of  vespers. 
Both  the  people  and  the  nobles  had  long  been 
hating  King  Charles,  but  the  direct  cause  of 
the  revolution  was  an  insult  offered  to  a  Sicilian 
bride  by  a  French  soldier.  The  Sicilians  rose, 
massacred  the  French  soldiers,  and  finally,  with 
the  help  of  King  Peter  of  Aragon,  drove  the 
French  out  of  the  island. 

Great  fighting  began  between  King  Charles 
and  the  King  of  Aragon  for  the  possession  of 
Sicily,  and  the  son  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  gener- 
ally known  as  Charles  the  Lame,  fought  bravely 
in  his  father's  wars.  At  a  naval  battle  with  the 
Aragonese  and  Sicilian  fleet,  Charles  the  Lame 
was  made  prisoner,  and  was  taken  off  to  Sicily. 
The  Sicilians  wanted  to  behead  him,  as  his 
father  had  beheaded  the  brave  young  Conradin  ; 
but  his  life  was  spared,  and  he  was  sent,  a 
prisoner,  to  Spain. 

The  next  year,  1285,  Charles  of  Anjou  died, 
and  now  Charles  the  Lame,  Prince  of  Salerno, 
became  King  of  Naples.  As  he  was  still  a 
prisoner,  the  government  of  Naples  had  to  be 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  279 

carried  on  for  a  time  in  the  name  of  his  son, 
Charles  Martel.  In  1288  Edward  1.  of  England 
got  it  arranged  that  Charles  should  be  set  free  ; 
but  it  was  understood  that  he  was  to  be  King 
of  Naples  only,  and  that  Sicily  was  not  to  be 
given  back  to  him.  Sicily  was  to  belong  to 
King  James,  brother  of  the  King  of  Aragon. 

During  the  next  few  years  various  attempts 
were  made  to  get  Sicily  back  for  Charles  n.  of 
Naples,  but  the  Sicilians  did  not  want  the 
Angevin  princes  to  rule  over  them  again, 
and  therefore  in  1296  they  chose  Frederick 
of  Aragon  to  be  their  king,  and  war  went  on 
for  a  long  time  between  him  and  Charles  the 
Lame. 

This  struggle  for  Sicily  brings  yet  another 
French  Charles  to  our  mind,  namely,  Charles 
de  Valois,  brother  of  King  Philip  the  Fair  of 
France,  and  cousin  as  well  as  son-in-law  of 
Charles  the  Lame. 

You  may  remember  how  in  the  story  about 
Florence  you  read  that,  in  the  year  1300,  this 
Charles  de  Valois  was  invited  into  Italy  by 
Pope  Boniface  vni.,  partly  to  help  to  make 
peace  in  Florence,  and  partly  to  help  Charles 
the  Lame  in  his  war  with  Frederick  of  Aragon. 
We  know  already  how  Charles  de  Valois  came 
to  Florence,  armed,  as  Dante  says,  "  with  the 
lance  of  treachery "  only,  and  how  he  played 
into  the  hands  of  the  Black  Guelf  party,  instead 


28o     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

of  keeping  his  promise  to  be  fair  to  both  parties 
alike. 

In  1302,  when  Charles  de  Valois  had  finished 
his  bad  work  for  Pope  Boniface  in  Florence, 
and  when  many  good  Florentine  citizens  of  the 
White  Guelf  party  had  been  driven  into  life- 
long exile,  he  set  out  for  Naples  to  prepare  for 
a  campaign  in  Sicily.  He  was  quite  unsuccess- 
ful, and  was  obliged  to  make  an  ignominious 
peace,  which  was  concluded  at  Caltabellotta. 
Frederick  of  Aragon  was  to  remain  in  possession 
of  Sicily  for  his  life,  and  was  to  marry  a 
daughter  of  King  Charles  of  Naples.  Those 
who  had  gone  over  to  the  Spanish  side  were 
not  to  be  punished,  and  were  to  have  their 
lands  back  again. 

Charles  de  Valois  had  to  return  to  France, 
having  obtained  little  or  nothing.  The  Italians 
nicknamed  him  "  Carlo  Sanzaterra "  (Charles 
Lackland)  because  of  his  failure  to  win  back 
Sicily  for  his  cousin,  the  King  of  Naples. 
They  also  said  of  him  that  he  came  to 
Florence  in  order  to  bring  peace,  but  went 
out  leaving  war  behind  him ;  he  went  into 
Sicily  to  bring  war,  and  left  peace  instead. 
The  French  used  to  say  that  Charles  de 
Valois  was  "son  of  a  king,  brother  of  a  king, 
uncle  of  three  kings,  father  of  a  king,  and  yet 
never  a  king  himself."  He  had  tried  for  no 
less  than  four  crowns,  and  had  never  succeeded 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  281 

in  getting  one.  He  had  wanted  to  be  King  of 
Aragon  and  of  Sicily  ;  he  tried  to  claim  the 
crown  of  Constantinople,  and  also  that  of  the 
Holy  Roman  Empire. 

At  this  time  King  Philip  the  Fair  was  on 
the  throne  of  France.  His  name  and  that 
of  the  great  Pope  Boniface  vin.  remind  us  of 
yet  other  ways  in  which  the  Lilies  of  France 
interfered  very  seriously  in  Italian  affairs. 

You  have  just  read  about  Pope  Boniface 
having  called  Charles  de  Valois  into  Italy,  and 
how  the  plans  for  pacifying  Florence  and 
turning  the  Aragonese  out  of  Sicily  had  failed. 

Now  we  must  speak  of  what  happened  be- 
tween Pope  Boniface  and  the  King  of  France. 

Philip  the  Fair  was  at  war  with  both  the 
English  and  the  Flemish,  and  he  was  in  great 
want  of  money  for  carrying  on  these  wars. 
He  therefore  began  to  levy  taxes  on  the 
churches,  convents,  and  clergy.  The  Papal 
legate  opposed  this  heavy  taxation,  and  the 
King  imprisoned  him.  Thus  began  a  terrible 
quarrel  between  Pope  Boniface  and  King 
Philip.  As  an  answer  to  the  King's  action  in 
levying  taxes  on  the  clergy  and  then  imprison- 
ing the  legate,  the  Pope  published  the  famous 
Bull  known  in  history  as  "  Clericos  Laicos,"  by 
which  he  forbade  the  clergy  and  religious 
bodies  to  pay  any  taxes  or  subsidies  without 
his  consent.     Philip  replied  by  forbidding  any 


282      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

money  or  valuables  to  go  out  of  the  kingdom, 
so  that  the  Pope  could  get  no  more  supplies 
from  France. 

A  second  Bull  was  sent  to  Philip,  in  which 
the  Pope  claimed  that  power  was  given  him  by 
God  over  all  kings  and  kingdoms.  This  Bull 
was  solemnly  burnt  in  Notre-Dame  in  1302. 

In  the  next  year,  1303,  the  quarrel  between 
the  Pope  and  King  Philip  came  to  its  height, 
and  Pope  Boniface  intended  to  excommunicate 
the  Kine  and  to  declare  his  crown  forfeit. 
The  Pope  was  at  that  time  staying  at  his  birth- 
place, the  town  of  Anagni,  not  far  from  Rome. 
The  ceremony  of  excommunication  was  to  take 
place,  with  great  and  awful  solemnity,  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Anagni,  the  very  same  church 
where  Pope  Alexander  111.  had  excommuni- 
cated Frederick  Barbarossa,  and  where  Pope 
Gregory  ix.  had  excommunicated  the  Emperor 
Frederick  11. 

But  a  dreadful  thing  happened.  The  Pope 
was  a  very  arrogant  and  ambitious  man,  and 
had  made  many  enemies.  Among  these 
enemies  was  the  great  Roman  family  of  the 
Colonna,  who  were,  indeed,  some  of  the  chief 
among  the  Roman  nobility.  The  Colonna 
were  full  of  wrath  against  the  Pope  on  account 
of  all  the  evil  he  had  done  to  them,  and  they 
were  longing  to  revenge  themselves.  Accord- 
ingly,  some  of  them  made  a  conspiracy  with 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  283 

William  de  Nogaret,  King  Philip's  chief  adviser 
and  defender.  Nogaret  and  a  certain  Sciarra 
Colonna,  with  their  followers,  came  to  Anagni, 
attacked  the  Papal  palace,  and,  having  either 
killed  or  imprisoned  most  of  the  Pope's  servants 
and  soldiers,  actually  forced  their  way  into  the 
Pope's  own  presence. 

The  aged  Pope  remained  alone  and  steadfast. 
His  enemies  found  him  seated  on  his  throne, 
wearing  the  Papal  robes  and  tiara  and  holding 
a  cross  and  the  keys  of  his  sacred  office. 

The  angry  men  fell  upon  him,  dragged  him 
from  his  throne,  and  Sciarra  Colonna  would 
fain  have  struck  him  with  his  mailed  fist,  had 
he  not  been  prevented  by  his  companions. 
The  Pope  was  kept  prisoner  for  three  days 
while  the  conspirators  sacked  the  palace  and 
the  cathedral  treasury.  During  these  days 
Pope  Boniface  refused  to  eat,  and  would 
answer  no  questions.  He  was  so  firm  and 
courageous  that  even  his  enemies  could  not 
help  admiring  and  respecting  him. 

At  last  he  was  set  free  by  the  people,  who 
turned  against  the  conspirators.  Sciarra 
Colonna  and  Nogaret  had  to  escape  from  their 
wrath,  while  the  Pope  was  taken  back  to 
Rome.  But  the  old  man  (he  was  eighty-four) 
was  so  shaken  by  what  he  had  suffered  both  in 
mind  and  in  body  that  he  was  seized  with  a 
a  kind  of  delirium.      He  again    refused    food, 


284     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

and  at  last  beat  his  head  so  violently  against 
the  wall  that  he  fell  back  unconscious  on  his 
bed  and  died. 

Here,  again,  we  are  reminded  of  Dante  and 
his  great  poem.  Dante  was  no  lover  of  Pope 
Boniface,  to  whom  he  partly  owed  his  exile  ; 
but  the  words  in  which  he  condemns  King 
Philip  the  Fair  could  not  well  be  stronger. 
He  speaks  of  the  "fiordaliso'  (fleur-de-lis) 
entering  Anagni,  and  of  the  shameful  treatment 
inflicted  upon  the  chief  bishop  in  Christendom, 
in  whose  person  an  injury  is  offered  to  Christ 
Himself.  It  is  a  splendid  passage,  and  shows 
us  what  Christendom  thought  of  Philip  the 
Fair  and  his  offence  against  the  reverence  due 
to  the  Pope's  position.  It  is  the  office  that 
Dante  reveres,  not  the  actual  Pope ;  and  his 
words  are  easy  enough  to  understand  when  we 
remember  that,  whatever  he  may  have  written 
about  some  of  the  popes,  he  was  always  a 
devout  Catholic. 

Two  years  after  this  Philip  the  F'air  managed 
to  get  a  Frenchman  chosen  as  Pope.  This 
was  the  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux,  who  became 
Pope  Clement  v.  Having  got  this  accom- 
plished, King  Philip  insisted  on  the  Pope 
leaving  Rome  and  going  to  live  at  Avignon, 
where  he  would  be  more  under  the  eye  and 
in  the  power  of  the  French  king.  In  that 
splendid   Papal  palace  at  Avignon  the  popes 


THE    LILIES   OF   FRANCE  285 

lived  for  more  than  seventy  years — that  is,  until 
1378.  This  exile  of  the  popes  at  Avignon  was 
called  the  "  Babylonian  Captivity "  by  the 
Italian  writers ;  and  no  wonder  the  Italians 
were  indignant  at  such  interference  with  the 
Papal  court  and  at  its  removal  from  Rome. 

You  may  remember,  when  you  were  reading 
about  Sir  John  Hawkwood  and  his  adventures, 
that  the  Papal  court  returned  to  Rome  at  the 
time  of  Pope  Gregory  xi.,  when  St.  Catherine 
of  Siena  wrote  her  famous  letters,  imploring 
the  Pope  to  come  in  peace  and  charity,  and 
not  with  armed  bands. 

We  must  now  pass  on  to  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  when  the  lily  banner  of 
France  was  again  carried  into  Italy,  and  once 
more  by  a  prince  who  bore  the  name  of  Charles. 

At  this  time  the  French  kings  began  to  make 
serious  claims  not  only  on  Naples,  as  they  had 
done  before,  but  also  on  the  duchy  of  Milan. 

To  begin  with  Naples.  You  have  just  been 
reading  how,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  the 
kingdom  of  Naples  and  Sicily  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  French  prince,  Charles  of  Anjou. 
You  saw,  too,  how  by  his  misgovernment  he 
lost  the  island  of  Sicily,  which  passed  into  the 
possession  of  the  House  of  Aragon. 

In  the  year  1494  a  prince  of  the  House  of 
Aragon  was  on  the  throne  of  Naples,  and  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  House  of  Aragon 


286     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

claimed  that  throne  by  right  of  descent  from 
King  Charles  i.,  called  of  Anjou,  who  was  the 
first  French  King  of  Naples.  But  there  were 
other  claimants  to  the  kingdom,  namely,  the 
elder  branch  of  the  House  of  Anjou,  who  had 
bequeathed  their  rights  to  King  Louis  xi.  of 
France. 

Louis  xi.  had  too  much  to  do  at  home,  in 
strengthening  his  position  in  his  own  kingdom, 
to  be  able  to  trouble  about  conquests  in  Italy  ; 
but  with  his  son,  Charles  viii.,  it  was  different. 
Charles  had  got  his  head  full  of  romantic  tales 
of  chivalry  and  adventure,  and  of  the  exploits 
of  Alexander  the  Great  and  of  Caesar.  He 
was  longing  to  win  military  glory,  and  accord- 
ingly he  set  his  heart  on  carrying  out  a 
tremendous  plan.  He  wished  to  win  back 
Naples  for  the  elder  branch  of  the  House  of 
Anjou,  which  he  now  represented  under  the 
will  of  the  Comte  du  Maine.  If  he  succeeded 
in  this,  he  wanted  to  take  back  Constantinople 
from  the  Turks  and  to  restore  the  Christian 
Empire  of  the  East.  (You  remember  that  the 
Turks  had  conquered  Constantinople  in  1453, 
and  had  turned  the  great  Church  of  Santa 
Sophia  into  a  mosque.)  But,  strange  to  say, 
the  man  who  invited  Charles  viii.  to  invade 
Italy  and  to  attack  Naples  was  Ludovico 
Sforza,  called  "II  Moro."  The  Sforza  family 
first    began    to  rule  in    Milan  after  the    death 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  287 

of  the  last  Visconti,  Filippo  Maria,  whose 
daughter  was  married  to  that  famous  "  con- 
dottiere,"  Francesco  Sforza. 

Francesco  Sforza  became  Duke  of  Milan  in 
1450,  and  the  reigning  Duke  at  the  time  of 
which  we  are  speaking  was  his  grandson,  Gian- 
Galeazzo.  But  the  government  had  really  been 
usurped  by  the  Duke's  uncle,  the  famous 
Ludovico  il  Moro,  who  was  plotting  to  get 
himself  made  Duke,  while  the  feeble  and 
delicate  young  Duke  was  kept  almost  a  prisoner 
in  his  own  palace.  The  King  of  Naples  had 
taken  Gian-Galeazzo's  part  against  Ludovico. 
Ludovico,  therefore,  was  not  sorry  that  the 
French  should  attack  Naples,  and  without 
thinking  of  the  injury  he  was  doing  to  Italy,  he 
actually  invited  Charles  vm.  to  cross  the  Alps. 

In  the  autumn  of  1494  the  young  French 
king  came  to  Pavia  with  a  splendid  army,  and 
was  received  with  great  pomp  and  rejoicing  by 
Ludovico  and  his  wife,  Beatrice. 

We  know  already  how  Charles  vm.  passed 
through  Florence,  and  how  his  coming  was 
welcomed  by  Savonarola,  who  thought  he 
would  help  to  punish  and  purify  the  corruptions 
of  the  Florentine  state  and  of  Florentine 
society.  We  know,  too,  how  vain  that  hope 
really  proved,  and  what  was  the  fate  that  over- 
took Savonarola  himself. 

When  Charles  left  Florence,  he  went  on  to 


288     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Naples.  The  French  army  met  with  no  re- 
sistance by  the  way,  and  even  Naples  itself 
made  no  real  stand  against  it.  Alfonso,  the 
Aragonese  king,  abdicated  in  favour  of  his  son, 
Ferdinand,  who  in  his  turn  had  to  take  refuge 
in  Sicily. 

Meanwhile,  Charles  viii.  had  himself  crowned 
Emperor  of  the  East  and  King  of  Jerusalem 
and  of  Naples.  He  then  made  a  solemn  entry 
into  the  city,  robed  in  the  Imperial  mantle  and 
carrying  the  golden  sceptre  and  orb. 

But  he  soon  lost  his  new  conquest  through 
carelessness  and  through  frivolous  love  of 
amusement.  He  did  not  insist  on  proper 
discipline,  and  took  no  pains  to  ensure  his 
position.  He  was  brave  enough,  but  was 
foolish  and  light-headed,  and  did  not  think 
enough  of  the  dangers  that  threatened  him. 

Moreover,  the  rulers  of  the  other  Italian 
states  had  now  taken  fright,  and  began  to  see 
what  a  perilous  game  this  was  that  they  were 
playing  in  allowing  a  destructive  foreign  army 
to  come  unopposed,  to  go  whether  it  would. 
They  saw  that  a  powerful  French  king  might 
soon  overrun  and  conquer  the  whole  peninsula. 
So  a  great  league  was  made  against  Charles  by 
Venice,  Milan,  Florence,  and  the  Pope,  who 
got  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  King  Ferdinand 
the  Catholic,  and  Henry  vn.  of  England  to  join 
with  them.     What   the   league  wanted  to   do 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  289 

was  to  shut  the  French  up  in  Naples  and 
crush  them;  but  Charles  viii.,  of  course,  got  to 
hear  of  this  plan,  and  he  determined  that,  what- 
ever happened,  he  would  get  back  to  France. 
He  left  Naples  at  the  head  of  ten  thousand  men, 
and  met  the  enemy  at  a  place  called  Fornovo, 
not  far  from  Parma.  Here  a  great  battle  was 
fought ;  and  although  the  French  were  greatly 
outnumbered,  they  made  a  splendid  fight  for 
it,  and  managed  to  cut  their  way  through, 
although  with  very  heavy  losses. 

Charles  got  back  to  France,  having  lost 
Naples  and  most  of  his  army  besides.  This 
was  in  1495.  In  spite  of  this  loss  and  failure, 
Charles  viii.  wanted  to  make  a  second  attack 
on  Italy;  but  he  died  in  1498,  aged  only 
twenty-seven,  and  this  further  plan  was  never 
carried  out. 

Now  we  come  to  the  story  of  the  French 
fights  for  Milan,  which  are  very  interesting,  and 
which  seem  to  bring  us  nearer  to  modern  times. 

You  may  remember  that  in  the  chapter 
about  the  great  captains  you  read  something 
about  that  celebrated  family  of  the  Visconti, 
who  ruled  for  so  long  in  Milan,  and  you  will 
remember  that  the  most  famous  man  of  that 
family  was  Gian-Galeazzo  Visconti,  the  first 
Duke  of  Milan,  who  reigned  from  1378  to  1402. 

Valentina  Visconti,  daughter  of  Duke  Gian- 
Galeazzo,  was  married  to  Louis,  Duke  of 
Orleans,  younger  son  of  King  Charles  v.  of 
19 


290      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

France.  Their  son  was  Charles,  Duke  of 
Orleans,  and  his  son  became  King  Louis  xn.  of 
France  after  the  death  of  Charles  viii.  King 
Louis  xii.  considered  that  he  had  a  claim  to 
the  duchy  of  Milan  because  he  was  the  grand- 
son of  Valentina  Visconti ;  and,  besides  this,  he 
also  wanted  to  try  to  recover  the  kingdom  of 
Naples. 

With  regard  to  Milan,  King  Louis  felt  sure 
of  support  from  the  Pope  and  from  Venice. 
Indeed,  in  1499  a  treaty  was  proclaimed 
between  these  three  powers — France,  Venice, 
and  the  Pope. 

Thus  it  came  about  that  Ludovico  il  Moro, 
now  Duke  of  Milan,  had  no  friend  left  except 
the  Emperor  Maximilian,  who  was  no  real 
help  to  him.  The  Milanese  armies,  too,  were 
made  up  chiefly  of  foreigners,  who  served  the 
Duke  only  for  pay. 

In  June  1499  the  French  army  crossed  the 
Alps  once  more ;  city  after  city  fell  into  their 
hands,  and  Duke  Ludovico  fled  to  Innsbruck. 
The  citadel  of  Milan  was  basely  betrayed  to 
the  French,  and  then  King  Louis  entered  the 
city  in  state,  wearing  the  ducal  cap  as  Duke  of 
Milan. 

After  a  short  time  he  went  back  to  France, 
leaving  a  famous  general  named  Trivulzio  as 
governor  of  Milan.  But  once  the  King's  back 
was  turned,  a  party  in  Milan  set  about  schem- 
ing   to    bring    Duke    Ludovico    back    again. 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  291 

Ludovico  himself  was  doing  all  he  could  to  get 
his  duchy  back;  in  1500  he  returned  with  a 
strong  force  of  Swiss  and  German  soldiers, 
took  the  town  of  Como,  and  actually  got  back 
for  a  time  into  Milan.  But,  unfortunately  for 
himself,  he  did  not  strike  hard  enough,  and 
thus  left  time  for  more  troops  to  pour  across 
the  Alps  to  help  the  French. 

In  April  1500  a  decisive  battle  was  fought 
at  Novara ;  but  it  was  in  a  sense  only  a  sham, 
for  the  unhappy  Ludovico  was  deserted  by  his 
Swiss  troops  and  their  leaders,  who  had  been 
mean  enough  to  treat  with  the  French  before- 
hand. All  that  Ludovico  could  get  them  to  do 
was  to  promise  that  they  would  convey  him 
into  safety  in  the  midst  of  their  ranks.  But 
even  his  disguise  as  a  common  soldier  did  not 
save  him  ;  he  was  recognised,  betrayed,  and 
captured  by  the  French. 

Ludovico  il  Moro  ended  his  days  in  the 
gloomy  castle  of  Loches,  in  France,  where  he 
languished  in  prison  for  ten  years. 

The  French  lilies  triumphed  for  a  time  in 
Milan,  which  lost  its  independence  at  the  battle 
of  Novara.  After  this  time,  the  Dukes  of 
Milan  were  never  really  independent  sovereigns, 
and  the  city  of  Milan  fell  into  the  hands  first 
of  France,  then  of  Spain,  then  of  Austria. 
Milan  is  now,  happily,  a  splendid  and  pros- 
perous city,  Italian  and  free. 

After  this,  King  Louis  turned  his  thoughts 


292      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

to  Naples,  which  was  still  claimed  by  the 
French  king  as  heir  of  the  House  of  Anjou. 
Ferdinand  the  Catholic  also  had  his  eye  on 
Naples,  because  he  thought  it  ought  rightly  to 
belong  to  Spain,  as  the  first  Aragonese  king 
had  won  it  by  Spanish  arms. 

These  two  kings  thereupon  attacked  Naples 
in  1 50 1  ;  the  French  and  Spanish  armies  were 
at  first  victorious,  but  they  could  not  agree 
about  the  spoils  of  war.  King  Louis  was 
deceived  by  the  crafty  Ferdinand,  and  did  not 
send  reinforcements  to  his  generals,  who  were 
defeated  several  times,  even  after  their  first 
success.  In  1504  the  French  army  had  to 
leave  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  and  by  the 
Treaty  of  Blois,  in  1505,  it  was  given  over  to 
Ferdinand  the  Catholic.  Spain  thus  became 
for  many  long  years  master  in  Southern  Italy. 

Having  failed  in  Naples,  Louis  xn.  tried  to 
get  complete  possession  of  all  the  Milanese 
state,  which  meant  almost  all  Lombardy.  He 
found  a  formidable  foe  in  the  powerful  Republic 
of  Venice,  which  for  some  time  past  had  been 
helping  itself  to  slices  of  territory  belonging  to 
its  neighbours,  and  was  becoming  a  menace  in 
North  Italy.  In  1508  a  great  blow  was  struck 
at  Venice,  for  the  King  of  France  joined  with 
the  Pope,  the  Emperor,  and  King  Ferdinand 
of  Spain  in  a  league  against  her.  This  league 
was  called  the  League  of  Cambrai,  and  it  is  very 
important  in  Italian  history,  as  it  gave  a  severe 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  293 

check  to  the  ambition  of  Venice.  Venice 
found  that  she  could  not  hold  out  against  so 
many  powers,  so  she  saved  herself  and  got  out 
of  her  dangerous  position  by  withdrawing  her 
forces  and  restoring  what  she  had  taken  from 
the  Papal  dominions  and  the  King  of  Naples. 

This  being  done,  the  League  of  Cambrai 
broke  up,  as  there  was  no  more  need  of  it. 

A  few  years  later  the  Pope — that  warlike  old 
Pope,  Julius  11. — suddenly  changed  his  policy, 
and  now  he  proclaimed  a  league  against  France. 
In  151 1  the  "Holy  League'  was  formed 
for  the  purpose  of  driving  the  French  out  of 
Italy,  and  in  this  league  the  Pope  was  joined 
by  Venice,  by  the  King  of  Spain,  and  by  the 
Emperor  Maximilian  and  Henry  vin.  of 
England.  Some  terrible  fi^htino-  followed  the 
proclamation  of  the  league.  The  Pope  him- 
self began  the  war  by  taking  a  place  called 
Mirandola,  near  Modena,  by  assault.  And 
strange  as  it  seems  to  us,  he  actually  rode 
into  the  town  at  the  head  of  his  troops. 

The  French  army  was  commanded  by  that 
splendid  young  soldier,  Gaston  de  Foix,  Duke 
of  Nemours,  who  was  a  nephew  of  the  King  of 
France  and  at  this  time  Governor  of  Milan. 
Gaston  de  Foix  now  gathered  his  troops  and 
swept  across  Lombardy  with  the  swiftness  of 
a  sudden  storm.  An  Italian  writer  speaks  of 
him  as  "a  thunderbolt  of  war"  ("fulmine  di 
guerra  ") ;  and,  so  indeed,  he  must  have  seemed. 


294     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Under  his  brilliant  leadership  the  French 
entered  Bologna,  took  the  town  and  castle  of 
Brescia,  besides  retaking  or  relieving  other 
cities. 

Gaston  de  Foix  pushed  on  and  on,  and  finally 
met  the  Papal  and  Imperial  army  at  Ravenna, 
that  famous  town  on  the  Adriatic  about  which 
you  have  read  in  another  of  these  stories. 

Here,  at  Ravenna,  on  Easter  Day  15 12,  a 
great  battle  was  fought,  and  the  French  were 
completely  victorious ;  but  it  was  a  victory 
dearly  bought.  Gaston  de  Foix  had  performed 
prodigies  of  valour  in  the  fight,  but  in  the 
flush  of  his  triumph  he  allowed  himself  to 
pursue  the  flying  foe  too  hotly  ;  he  was  sur- 
rounded by  the  enemy  and  slain. 

"  May  God  save  us  from  such  victories  as 
this !  "  exclaimed  King  Louis,  when  he  heard 
the  grievous  news  of  his  nephew's  death. 

And,  truly,  the  blow  proved  to  be  a  crushing 
one  for  France.  Misfortune  after  misfortune 
seemed  to  fall  upon  her.  She  was  attacked  in 
Navarre  by  the  King  of  Spain,  and  by  the 
Emperor  and  the  King  of  England  in  the 
north.  In  Italy,  the  new  French  commander 
was  slow  and  inactive,  and  thus  the  Pope  was 
able  to  rally  his  forces.  The  French  army 
was  defeated  at  Novara  in  15 13  ;  they  had  to 
retreat  across  the  Alps,  and  Louis  xn.  had  to 
give  up  Milan  after  having  held  it  for  twelve 
years. 


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THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  295 

The  body  of  the  valiant  young  Gaston  de 
Foix  was  taken  to  the  Cathedral  of  Milan. 
His  coffin  was  placed  close  to  those  of  the 
Dukes  of  Milan,  and,  after  the  curious  fashion 
of  those  days,  was  hung  between  two  great 
pillars  near  the  altar.  The  coffin  was  torn 
down  and  the  remains  scattered  by  the  brutal 
Swiss  soldiers  who  came  over  the  Alps  with 
the  terrible  Cardinal  de  Sion  to  fight  for  the 
Pope  a  few  years  afterwards. 

If  you  go  some  day  to  Milan,  you  may  see 
in  the  Castello  the  beautiful  statue  of  Gaston 
de  Foix,  which  was  taken  from  his  monument 
in  the  Church  of  Santa  Marta — a  church  which 
is  now  pulled  down. 

We  must  speak  yet  once  more  of  the  Lilies 
of  France,  and  say  something  about  the  famous 
Italian  wars  of  King  Francis  1.,  who  succeeded 
King  Louis  xn.  in  15 15.  Perhaps  English 
people  remember  Francis  1.  chiefly  as  the  king 
who  met  Henry  vm.  at  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of 
Gold  ;  but  we  shall  find  that  the  most  important 
part  of  his  history  has  to  do  with  Italy. 

Francis  1.,  like  Louis  xn.,  was  a  descendant  of 
Valentina  Visconti ;  he  therefore  thought  he 
had  a  claim  to  the  duchy  of  Milan,  and  his 
first  wish  was  to  reconquer  it.  After  the  defeat 
of  the  French  at  Novara,  one  of  the  Sforza 
family  had  been  brought  back  to  Milan  as 
Duke  ;  he  was  in  alliance  with  the  Pope,  and 
was    supported    by    the    Swiss.      These    Swiss 


296      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

troops  were  guarding  the  passes  of  the  Alps, 
hoping  to  prevent  the  French  from  getting 
over.  Suddenly  they  heard  that  the  French 
army  had  come  down  into  Italy  by  the  Col 
de  l'Argentiere,  close  to  Mont-Blanc,  a  pass 
so  wild  and  difficult  that  it  was  thought  to  be 
impossible  to  cross  it.  But  here  the  French 
were,  down  in  Italy  once  more,  and  they  had 
got  as  far  as  a  place  called  Marignan,  near  Milan. 
At  Marignan  a  great  battle  was  fought — "a 
battle  not  of  men,  but  of  giants,"  as  the  Italian 
general,  Trivulzio,  said — and  the  French  won  a 
brilliant  victory.  A  very  interesting  thing 
happened  on  the  field  of  Marignan.  The 
famous  Chevalier  Bayard,  so  renowned  in 
history  for  his  courage,  his  courtesy,  and  every- 
thing that  a  true  knight  should  be,  was  at  the 
battle.      King-  Francis  i.  had  been  most  valiant 

o 

in  combat,  and  after  the  battle  he  himself  was 
knighted  by  Bayard — the  ''chevalier  sans  peur 
et  sans  reproche,"  as  he  was  called. 

After  the  battle  of  Marignan,  Milan  became 
French  again,  and  Francis  i.  tried  to  make 
sure  of  his  conquest  by  various  treaties.  At 
the  Peace  of  Fribourg,  the  Swiss  undertook 
not  to  interfere  any  more  in  the  affairs  of  Italy, 
and  promised  to  serve  with  the  French.  By 
the  Treaty  of  Noyon,  which  was  signed  by  the 
King  of  Spain,  Francis  i.  was  to  succeed  to 
the  throne  of  Naples,  and  Spain  was  to  give 
up  Navarre.     A  concordat  was  also  made  with 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  297 

Pope  Leo  x.,  who  had  succeeded  Pope  Julius  n. 
in  15 13.  You  remember  that  Pope  Leo  was 
one  of  the  Medici,  a  son  of  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent. 

The  French  ruled  again  in  Milan  for  six 
years.  The  great  Constable  de  Bourbon  was 
governor  of  Milan  at  first,  and  he  ruled 
fairly  well  and  justly.  He  was  succeeded  as 
governor  by  the  Sieur  de  Lautrec,  whose  name 
you  will  remember  in  the  story  of  the  great 
captains.  Lautrec  was  cruel  and  tyrannical,  and 
his  bad  government  had  something  to  do  with 
the  revolt  and  the  war  that  broke  out  in  1521. 

But  this  time  the  war  had  not  really  so  much 
to  do  with  Milan  and  with  Italy  as  with  the 
fierce  rivalry  between  France  and  the  House 
of  Austria. 

As  you  remember,  King  Francis  1.  of  France 
and  King  Charles  of  Spain  had  each  wanted 
to  be  made  Emperor,  and  they  had  both  tried 
to  secure  the  friendship  and  support  of 
Henry  vm.  and  of  Cardinal  Wolsey.  As  we 
know,  Charles  became  Emperor  in  15 19,  after 
the  death  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian.  He  is, 
of  course,  always  known  as  Charles  v.,  because 
he  was  the  fifth  emperor  of  that  name. 

Now,  Francis  1.  and  the  Emperor  were  at 
this  time  both  claiming  the  heritage  of  the 
Dukes  of  Burgundy,  and  in  many  ways  the 
Emperor's  enormous  power  was  a  menace  to 
France,  for  he  had  inherited  an  immense  terri- 


298      STORIES   FROM    ITALIAN   HISTORY 

tory — Spain,  the  Netherlands,  Austria,  Naples, 
besides  the  treasures  of  the  New  World. 

In  1 52 1  war  broke  out  between  France  and 
Spain.  It  began  first  in  Spain,  where  there 
had  been  an  insurrection  against  the  Emperor. 
The  French  tried  to  help  the  insurgents,  but 
arrived  too  late,  and  were  driven  back  from 
Navarre.  The  Emperor,  meanwhile,  made  a 
new  "  Holy  League"  with  Pope  Leo  x.  ;  he 
declared  that  Milan  was  an  Imperial  fief  and, 
as  such,  belonged  to  him.  As  you  already 
know,  a  great  battle  took  place  between  the 
armies  of  France  and  of  the  Emperor  at  La 
Bicocca,  near  Milan,  and  Lautrec,  the  French 
governor  of  Milan,  suffered  a  terrible  defeat. 
Once  again  the  French  were  driven  out  of  the 
duchy  of  Milan.  But  in  1523  they  were  back 
once  more,  devastating  the  country  and  trying  to 
reconquer  the  city  of  Milan  for  the  third  time. 

The  French  cause  was  much  damaged  by 
the  desertion  of  the  Constable  de  Bourbon, 
who  was  one  of  the  greatest  nobles  of  France, 
a  kinsman  of  the  Royal  House,  and  a  most 
distinguished  soldier. 

The  King  was  jealous  of  his  wealth  and 
importance,  and  disliked  his  reserved  and 
silent  ways.  Bourbon,  on  his  part,  was 
offended  at  the  treatment  he  received  not 
only  from  the  King,  but  also  from  the  King's 
mother,  Louise  de  Savoie,  Duchess  of  Angou- 
leme,  who  had  a  spite  at  Bourbon  and  tried  to 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  299 

injure  him  in  every  way.  Through  the  revenge- 
ful intrigues  at  the  court  the  Constable  de 
Bourbon  lost  a  great  part  of  his  vast  estates, 
and,  allowing  his  resentment  to  get  the  better 
of  his  patriotism,  he  accepted  the  offers  of 
friendship  made  to  him  by  the  enemies  of 
France,  the  Emperor  Charles  v.  and  Henry  vm. 
of  England,  and  made  a  compact  with  them. 

Bourbon  now  went  over  to  the  service  of  the 
Emperor,  and  thus  fought  against  his  own 
country  in  the  Italian  wars. 

In  1524  the  French  army  suffered  more  than 
one  defeat,  and  at  one  of  these  battles  the 
great  Chevalier  Bayard  met  his  death.  His 
career  as  a  soldier  had  been  closely  connected 
with  Italy,  for  his  first  taste  of  real  war  was  at 
Fornovo,  in  1495,  when  Charles  vm.  had  to 
fight  his  way  back  to  France. 

Bayard  fought  for  Louis  xn.  in  his  Nea- 
politan wars  ;  he  fought  for  Francis  1.  in  his 
two  Milanese  campaigns,  and  now  he  lay  dying 
by  the  banks  of  the  river  Sesia,  mortally 
wounded  by  a  shot  from  an  arquebuse.  He 
bade  his  men  lay  him  at  the  foot  of  a  tree,  with 
his  face  to  the  foe.  He  then  kissed  the  cross- 
hilt  of  his  sword,  and  said  some  of  the  verses 
of  the  51st  Psalm.  As  he  lay  there,  the 
Constable  de  Bourbon  passed  by  ;  and  as  he 
saw  that  Bayard  had  but  a  short  time  to  live, 
he  uttered  some  words  of  pity  and  sorrow, 
saying  that  he  had  always  loved  and  honoured 


3oo      STORIES    FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

him.  "  My  lord,  I  thank  you,"  answered 
Bayard,  "  but  I  need  no  pity,  for  I  die  as  a 
true  man  ;  it  is  I  who  pity  you — you  who  are 
fighting  against  your  prince,  your  country,  and 
your  oath." 

Bayard  lived  but  two  hours  after  his  fatal 
wound,  and  died  as  he  had  lived — true  and  loyal. 

After  the  defeat  of  the  French  in  1524  the 
Constable  de  Bourbon,  at  the  head  of  the 
Imperial  troops,  invaded  Provence  ;  but  he  was 
not  very  successful,  and  the  Imperial  army 
finally  turned  back  towards  the  Alps. 

The  next  year,  1525,  a  great  battle  was  fought 
at  Pavia — a  battle  which  decided  the  fate  of 
I  taly,  and  also  of  France,  for  many  years  to  come. 

King  Francis  was  completely  defeated  by 
the  Emperor's  troops  ;  the  very  flower  of  the 
chivalry  of  France  were  slain  ;  the  King  himself 
was  made  prisoner  and  taken  off  to  Madrid. 

In  spite  of  all  these  misfortunes,  and  in  spite 
of  the  terms  he  accepted  under  the  Treaty  of 
Madrid,  King  Francis  still  continued  to  make 
attempts  on  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  until  the 
dispute  was  settled  by  the  Peace  of  Cambrai 
in  1529.  By  the  terms  of  that  peace  Francis 
was  to  keep  Burgundy,  but  he  had  to  promise 
to  give  up  all  his  Italian  allies. 

The  final  defeat  of  the  French  at  Pavia 
meant  that  Italy  fell  under  the  crushing 
tyranny  of  Spain,  and  her  efforts  to  shake 
it  off  were  useless. 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  301 

As  you  already  know,  Pope  Clement  vn.  did 
not  want  either  France  or  Spain  to  have  the 
chief  power  in  Italy ;  but  he,  together  with 
Venice  and  Florence,  took  fright  at  the  grow- 
ing power  of  the  Emperor,  and  made  a  secret 
league  with  France  against  him.  After  the 
battle  of  Pavia  they  tried  to  raise  a  really 
Italian  army  for  the  deliverance  of  Italy  ;  but 
the  Constable  de  Bourbon  came  down  from 
the  Alps  with  fresh  forces,  some  of  them  being 
fanatical  Lutherans,  while  many  of  them  were 
freebooters.  The  Italian  army,  which  was 
commanded  by  the  Duke  of  Urbino,  seems 
to  have  been  kept  prudently  out  of  the  way, 
and  this  new  onslaught  of  barbarians  ended  in 
the  merciless  sack  of  Rome  in  1527,  of  which 
you  have  heard  more  than  once.  As  you  will 
remember,  that  sack  was  a  revenge  on  the 
Pope  for  his  having  inclined  to  the  French 
side,  so  the  French  did  indeed  play  a  part  in 
this  terrible  business  also. 

The  Constable  de  Bourbon  led  the  assault  on 
Rome  in  person,  and  was  actually  climbing  a 
scaling  ladder  that  was  put  up  against  the  walls 
when  he  was  killed  by  the  first  shot  from  the 
ramparts.  Had  he  lived  to  command  at  the 
siege,  the  behaviour  of  the  troops  would  prob- 
ably have  been  less  atrocious.  As  it  was,  we 
know  that  Rome  never  recovered  from  the 
barbarity  of  that  sack. 

As  far  as  Francis  1.  was  concerned,  even  the 


3o2      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

Peace  of  Cambrai  did  not  put  an  end  to  his 
Italian  ambitions,  for  in  1536  he  made  yet 
another  attempt  to  get  hold  of  the  duchy  of 
Milan.  Again,  in  1542,  war  broke  out  between 
Francis  1.,  the  Emperor,  and  Henry  vm.  of 
England.  This  ended  in  Francis  finally 
abandoning  his  claim  to  the  kingdom  of 
Naples. 

And  now,  properly,  this  story  ought  to  end, 
for  we  have  spoken  of  the  most  famous 
occasions  on  which  the  fleur-de-lis  of  France 
helped  to  shape  the  destinies  of  Italy. 

But  we  cannot  stop  here,  or  finish  this 
chapter,  without  saying  a  few  words  about 
something  which  happened  in  days  much 
nearer  our  own  time,  when  France  became  for 
a  few  years  mistress  not  only  of  Italy,  but  of  a 
great  part  of  Europe.  Strictly  speaking,  the 
Lilies  of  France  have  really  nothing  to  do  with 
these  last  invasions  of  Italy  by  the  French, 
because  they  took  place  after  the  great  Revolu- 
tion, when  the  golden  lilies  had  been  drenched 
with  the  blood  of  the  King  and  Queen  and  of 
large  numbers  of  the  nobles  of  France,  and  the 
French  flag  was  now  the  republican  tricolour. 

What  happened  can  only  be  told  very 
shortly. 

In  1793  the  new  French  Republic  was 
defending  itself  against  the  other  states  of 
Europe,  which  had  banded  together  to  oppose 
it.      The    French    army    invaded    Nice    and 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  303 

Savoy,  and  later  on  the  young  soldier, 
Napoleon  Buonaparte,  crossed  the  Alps  at  the 
head  of  his  troops  and  overran  a  great  part 
of  Italy. 

After  much  fighting  with  the  Austrians, 
during  which  the  French  won  many  brilliant 
victories,  a  peace  was  made  at  Campo-Formio 
in  1797,  when  Lombardy,  Mantua,  Modena, 
and  various  other  territories  in  North  Italy 
were  formed  into  what  was  called  the  Cisalpine 
Republic. 

The  once  glorious  Republic  of  Venice — of 
which  you  read  in  our  first  story — had  grown 
luxurious  and  feeble,  and  had  lost  her  old 
heroic  spirit.  She  crumbled  at  the  touch  of 
the  conqueror ;  she  lost  her  independence,  and 
was  handed  over  to  Austria.  Rome  itself  was 
occupied  by  the  French,  and  for  a  short  time 
the  Papal  government  was  abolished  and  a 
Roman  republic  set  up.  The  aged  Pope 
Pius  vi.  left  Rome  and  took  up  his  abode  for 
a  time  in  the  Certosa  of  Florence.  He  was 
finally  carried  off  into  exile  in  France,  almost 
as  a  prisoner. 

One  coalition  after  another  was  formed 
against  France  during  the  years  that  followed  ; 
but  under  the  leadership  of  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte she  triumphed  over  her  enemies,  and 
for  some  time  she  was  able  to  dictate  to  most 
of  Europe,  including  Italy. 

We  seem  to  see  all  the  old  story  repeated 


304     STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

in  Napoleon's  days.  The  names  of  govern- 
ments may  change,  but  human  nature  remains 
much  the  same,  whether  we  call  the  state  a 
constitutional  monarchy,  a  republic,  or  a 
despotism.  One  thing  is  sure.  A  good 
government  cannot  be  made  by  bad  and  un- 
scrupulous people,  and  a  nation  generally  gets 
the  kind  of  state  it  deserves. 

After  Napoleon  became  Emperor  in  1804, 
he  drove  the  Bourbons  out  of  Naples  and  put 
his  brother,  Joseph  Bonaparte,  on  the  throne 
of  that  kingdom.  Later  on  again,  after  his 
victories  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  he  made 
Joseph  Bonaparte  King  of  Spain  and  put 
his  brother-in-law,  General  Murat,  on  the 
throne  of  Naples.  He  also  made  his  sister, 
Elisa,  Grand  Duchess  of  Tuscany.  He  made 
Pope  Pius  vii.  come  all  the  way  to  Paris  to 
anoint  him  as  Emperor,  and  then  set  the  crown 
on  his  own  head.  The  States  of  the  Church 
were  taken  away  from  the  Pope  and  united 
to  the  Empire,  and  you  may  remember  that 
Napoleon's  son  was  given  the  title  of  King 
of  Rome. 

We  seem  to  hear  distant  echoes  of  the 
old  strife  in  the  days  of  the  Emperors 
Henry  iv.,  Barbarossa,  and  Frederick  it.,  and  of 
King  Philip  the  Fair  of  France.  But  there 
was  this  difference.  In  those  days  the  Pope 
generally  got  the  better  of  the  Emperor ;  in 
Napoleon's  time  the   Emperor  got  the   better 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  305 

of  the  Pope,  and  the  position  of  the  Pope 
has  never  been  the  same  since. 

All  this  conquest  of  Italy  by  France  may 
appear  very  sad  and  humiliating  ;  but  in  the 
end  it  was  a  good  thing,  for  in  a  strange  way 
it  has  helped  to  bring  about  the  union  of  Italy 
into  one  great  kingdom. 

We  see  this  yet  more  clearly  when  once 
more,  nearer  still  to  our  own  days,  France 
played  a  most  important  part  in  the  affairs  of 
Italy,  and  this  time  again  under  a  Bonaparte. 

After  the  various  restorations  and  revolu- 
tions that  had  taken  place  since  the  final 
defeat  of  the  great  Napoleon  at  Waterloo, 
Northern  Italy  had  again  fallen  under  the  yoke 
of  Austria,  while  Naples  groaned  under  the 
tyranny  of  the  Spanish  Bourbons.  But  the 
patriotic  spirit,  once  aroused,  was  growing 
stronger  and  stronger,  and  the  Italians  were 
determined  to  have  their  country  for  them- 
selves and  no  longer  to  be  a  prey  to  foreigners. 

We  have  now  come  to  the  time  when  the 
nephew  of  the  great  Napoleon,  known  as 
Napoleon  111.,  was  Emperor  of  the  French. 

In  1859  Count  Cavour,  the  celebrated 
minister  of  the  King  of  Sardinia,  raised  the 
question  of  Italian  independence,  and  per- 
suaded the  Emperor  Napoleon  111.  to  help  the 
brave  Piedmontese  against  the  Austrians. 

Again,  you  see,  France  was  asked  to  come 

and  help  Italy  against  the  foes  within  her  own 
20 


306      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN   HISTORY 

border.  The  French  emperor  came  in  person 
with  his  army,  and  the  Austrians  were  com- 
pletely defeated  at  the  famous  battles  of 
Magenta  and  Solferino,  both  fought  in  June 
1859.  Lombardy  was  given  up  to  France,  who 
at  once  ceded  it  to  Piedmont.  Very  soon  after 
this  many  of  the  other  Italian  states  voted  their 
annexation  to  Piedmont,  and  in  1861  Victor 
Emmanuel  was  proclaimed  King  of  Italy. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Emperor  Napoleon 
did  not  very  much  want  a  kingdom  of  United 
Italy  to  be  formed.  He  had  wished  to  set  up 
a  sort  of  Confederation  of  Italian  States  under 
the  presidency  of  the  Pope,  which  was  not  at 
all  what  the  Italians  desired.  But,  happily, 
nothing  could  stand  against  the  uprising  of 
Italian  patriotism  and  the  heroic  self-sacrifice 
of  the  Italian  people. 

The  story  of  Garibaldi  has  often  been  told, 
and  you  may  read  in  many  books  how  he  and 
his  wonderful  men  struggled  for  the  deliver- 
ance of  their  country,  and  how  they  fought  in 
Sicily  and  Naples  and  helped  to  win  these 
states  for  the  Italian  kingdom. 

Meanwhile,  the  two  great  questions  re- 
mained :  What  was  to  happen  to  Venice  ?  and 
what  was  to  be  done  about  the  Papal  dominions 
and  about  Rome  itself? 

As  to  Venice.  There  was  more  fighting 
between  the  Austrians  and  Italians  in  the  north 
of  Italy  in  1866.     The  Italians  were  not  very 


THE   LILIES   OF   FRANCE  307 

successful  ;  they  were  defeated  at  Custozza, 
and  at  the  naval  battle  of  Lissa.  But  as 
Austria  was  at  that  time  attacked  by  Prussia, 
she  was  not  sorry  to  come  to  some  sort  of 
terms,  and  Venice  was  given  up  to  the 
Emperor  Napoleon  in.  It  should,  of  course, 
have  been  given  at  once  to  Italy  ;  but  this  did 
not  happen  until  later  in  that  same  year,  when 
the  Peace  of  Vienna  was  signed.  By  the  terms 
of  that  peace  the  Venetian  territory  was  joined 
to  Italy  ;  the  Austrian  emperor  renounced  the 
title  of  King  of  Lombardy  and  Venetia ;  he 
also  restored  to  Italy  the  famous  Iron  Crown 
of  which  you  have  read  in  one  of  these  stories, 
and  which  had  been  taken  from  Monza  to 
Vienna  in  1859. 

When  we  turn  to  think  of  Rome  and  what  was 
going  on  there,  we  still  find  the  hand  of  France 
in  it  all,  for  Pope  Pius  ix.  was  being  helped 
and  defended  by  French  troops,  so  that  Rome 
could  not  yet  be  made  the  capital  of  Italy. 

You  will  some  day  read  the  story  of  Gari- 
baldi's attack  on  Rome  and  his  gallant  attempt 
to  win  it  for  the  King.  He  was  outnumbered, 
and  was  defeated  at  the  memorable  battle  of 
Mentana.  This  meant  that  the  French  troops 
remained  near  Rome,  though  they  did  not 
actually  stay  in  the  city  itself. 

When  the  terrible  war  between  France 
and  Prussia  broke  out  in  1870,  these  French 
troops  had  to  leave  Italy  and  go  back  to  help 


3o8      STORIES   FROM   ITALIAN    HISTORY 

in  the  defence  of  their  own  country.  In  the 
September  of  that  year  the  French  suffered  a 
fearful  defeat  at  the  battle  of  Sedan ;  the 
Empire  fell,  and  the  Republic  was  proclaimed 
in  France. 

The  Italians  now  announced  their  intention 
of  making  Rome  the  capital  of  the  kingdom  of 
Italy,  and,  after  very  little  resistance  from  the 
Papal  troops,  the  Italians  entered  the  city  on 
September  20th,  1870. 

Thus  the  great  work  of  making  a  United 
Italy  was  at  once  completed  and  begun. 

It  was  completed,  in  the  sense  that  the 
whole  Italian  peninsula,  together  with  the 
island  of  Sicily,  was  now  joined  under  one  flag 
and  made  into  one  great  kingdom  under  a 
constitutional  sovereign. 

It  was,  in  a  sense,  only  begun,  because  a 
strong  and  vigorous  state  cannot  be  built  up  in 
a  moment ;  it  is  like  each  separate  human  being 
— it  has  to  grow,  and  has  to  learn  how  to  live. 

In  this  year  of  the  Jubilee  of  Italian  Unity, 
we  all,  friends  and  lovers  of  Italy,  can  find 
nothing  better  to  say  than  the  words  of  Fra 
Paolo  Sarpi  already  quoted  in  this  book — his 
dying  words  of  farewell  to  his  beloved  Venice 
— "  Esto  perpetua  "  (May  she  endure  for  ever), 
with  which  words  these  stories  from  Italian 
history  shall  end. 


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